Go to MPEP - Table of Contents
The receiving Office shall refund the search fee to the applicant:
(i) if the determination under Article 11(1) is negative,
(ii) if, before the transmittal of the search copy to the International Searching Authority, the international application is withdrawn or considered withdrawn, or
(iii) if, due to prescriptions concerning national security, the international application is not treated as such.
Where the international application claims the priority of an earlier international application which has been the subject of an international search by the same International Searching Authority, that Authority shall refund the search fee paid in connection with the later international application to the extent and under the conditions provided for in the agreement under Article 16(3)(b), if the international search report on the later international application could wholly or partly be based on the results of the international search effected on the earlier international application.
Go to MPEP - Table of Contents