What’s the Best Practice for filing a Demand and Article 34 amendment in a PCT application?
The Best Practice may be different depending upon your choice of International Preliminary Examining Authority (IPEA).
If the IPEA is an Office where you know exactly how to e-file, then probably the Best Practice will be to e-file directly in that Office. For example a US filer who has selected IPEA/US will probably know how to e-file in EFS-Web. Probably the Best Practice in such a case will be to e-file the Demand and Article 34 amendment in Patentcenter (or EFS-Web).
But suppose the filer is a US filer and suppose the filer has selected some other IPEA such as IPEA/KR or IPEA/EP. Probably that filer has no clue how to e-file in the Korean patent office or the European Patent Office. In such a case, the Best Practice is to e-file the Demand and Article 34 amendment directly with the IB using ePCT. The IB will date-stamp the papers and will forward the papers to the IPEA. The IPEA will give full faith and credit to the date stamp from the IB.
Make sure of course to get the e-filing completed prior to midnight in Geneva on your filing date. ePCT will tell you what time it is in Geneva. ePCT will also calculate for you the last possible date for the filing of your Demand and Article 34 amendment. Bring up the application in your portfolio, and click on “time line” to see this last possible date.
To do the e-filing at the IB, bring up the application in your portfolio, and click on “actions” and pick “Submit Chapter II Demand”. Upload your documents and click submit. Bob’s your uncle.
If you file your Demand at the IB, what remains is to pay the Demand Fees (the Preliminary Exam Fee and Handling Fee) to the IPEA. Probably the Best Practice will be to wire the funds. (See this article.) For example to pay the Demand Fees to IPEA/KR, wire the funds to:
Swift code: NACFKRSE
Name of bank: National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, Government Complex Daejeon Branch
Account number: 676-01-011484
Name of beneficiary: KIPO
Mention the PCT application number in the originator-to-beneficiary information of the bank wire.