When the person, name, address or citizenship of an applicant, applicant/inventor, inventor or agent changes during the prosecution of a PCT application, the Request to Correct the information should be filed directly with the International Bureau and not the US Receiving Office.

PCT Rule 92bis, includes the following language: “The International Bureau shall, on the request of the applicant or the receiving Office, record changes…”

The IB will record the change so long as the document requesting the change is received by the IB before the expiration of 30 months from the priority date of the PCT application. If the request is filed with the USRO, the USRO will (eventually) forward it to the IB and the IB will then record it. But if there is a delay by the USRO in forwarding the document to the IB, and the document is not received by the IB until after the 30 month deadline, the change will not be recorded. (See Rule 92bis.1(b) “The International Bureau shall not record the requested change if the request for recording is received by it after the expiration of 30 months from the priority date.”)

Faxing the change directly to the IB is much simpler and will get the document recorded almost immediately. Since changing or correcting this information can be costly during the national phase, it is much more efficient to get it recorded prior to 30 months from the PCT ‘s priority date.

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Ms. Ange may be reached for comment via email or from her company website.

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