1820 Signature of Applicant [R-08.2017]

SIGNATURE OF APPLICANT OR AGENT

Pursuant to PCT Rule 4.15, the international application must be signed in Box No. X of the request by the applicant, or, where there are two or more applicants, by all of them. However, under PCT Rule 26.2bis, it is sufficient for purposes of PCT Article 14(1)(a)(i) that the application is signed by only one of the applicants. The United States Receiving Office will not issue an invitation to applicants to furnish missing signatures where the request is signed by at least one of the applicants. Notwithstanding PCT Rule 26.2bis, any designated/elected office, in accordance with its national law, can still require confirmation of the international application by the signature of any applicant for such designated state who has not signed the request. PCT Rule 51bis.1(a)(vi). Pursuant to 37 CFR 1.4(d), the request filed may be either an original, or a copy thereof.

The international application may be signed by an agent. Pursuant to 37 CFR 1.34, a patent practitioner acting in a representative capacity must set forth his or her registration number on submitted papers.

The requirement for the submission of a separate power of attorney may be waived by the receiving Office. The United States Receiving Office will, in most cases, waive the requirement for a separate power of attorney. See MPEP § 1807.

The United States Receiving Office will accept signatures meeting the requirements of either 37 CFR 1.4(d)(1) with respect to handwritten signatures or 37 CFR 1.4(d)(2) with respect to S-signatures. For handwritten signatures, the name of each person signing the international application should be indicated (preferably typewritten) next to the signature. For S-signatures, the signer’s name must be presented in printed or typed form preferably immediately below or adjacent the S-signature, and must be reasonably specific enough so that the identity of the signer can be readily recognized. See MPEP § 502.02, subsection II. Pursuant to 37 CFR 1.4(d)(2)(ii), a patent practitioner using an S-signature must supply his or her registration number either as part of the S-signature, or immediately below or adjacent to the S-signature.

Where a person signs on behalf of a legal entity (an organization such as a corporation, university, nonprofit organization, or governmental agency), his or her name and the capacity in which he or she signs should be indicated. Proof of the person’s authority to sign on behalf of the legal entity will be required if that person does not possess apparent authority to sign on behalf of the legal entity and that person has not submitted a statement that he or she is authorized to sign on behalf of the legal entity (discussed below). An officer (President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer or Chief Financial Officer) of an organization is presumed to have authority to sign on behalf of that organization. The signature of the chairman of the board is also acceptable, but not the signature of an individual director. Variations of these titles (such as vice-president for sales, executive vice-president, assistant treasurer, vice-chairman of the board of directors) are acceptable. In general, a person having a title (manager, director, administrator, general counsel) that does not clearly set forth that person as an officer of the organization is not presumed to be an officer or to have the authority to sign on behalf of the organization. However, an exception is made with respect to foreign juristic applicants. This is because in foreign countries, a person who holds the title “Manager” or “Director” is normally an officer or the equivalent thereof; therefore, those terms are generally acceptable as indicating proper persons to sign applications for foreign applicants. However, titles such as “Manager of Patents,” suggesting narrowly limited duties, are not acceptable. An attorney does not generally have apparent authority to sign on behalf of an organization.

Proof that a person has the authority to sign on behalf of a legal entity may take the form of a copy of a resolution of the board of directors, a provision of the bylaws, or a copy of a paper properly delegating authority to that person to sign the international application on behalf of the legal entity.

It is acceptable to have a person sign the international application on behalf of a legal entity if that person submits a statement that the person has the authority to sign the international application on behalf of the legal entity. This statement should be on a separate paper and must not appear on the Request (or Demand) form itself. The statement must include a clause such as “The undersigned (whose title is supplied below) is empowered to sign the Request on behalf of the applicant.”

The international application can be filed without applicant’s signature on the request. The lack of any required signature on the request is a correctable defect under PCT Article 14(1)(a)(i) and (b), and can be remedied by filing a copy of the request (or, where the request has been signed by an agent, of a power of attorney) duly signed by the applicant within the time limit fixed by the receiving Office for the correction of this defect.

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