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the applicant himself or his agent or representative, and shall comprise the text of the
amendments together with proof of payment of the prescribed fee given in Annex I.
(2) The amendments shall not go beyond the description of the invention as filed.
37.—(1) The application for a patent or inventor’s certificate may be withdrawn at any
time, prior to the date of issue, by means of a written declaration.
(2) The request shall be formulated by the applicant or by his agent or representative.
In the latter cases, special powers of withdrawal shall be annexed to the declaration.
(3) If the application for a patent or inventor’s certificate has been filed in the name of
several legal or natural persons, it may only be withdrawn if requested by all such persons.
(4) If property rights, possessory liens or license rights have been entered in the
national patent or inventor’s certificate registers, the declaration shall be admissible only if
accompanied by the written consent of the holders of such rights.
(5) In all cases of withdrawal of an application, a copy of such application shall be kept
by the Office.
(6) The filing fee shall not be refunded in the event of withdrawal of an application.
Chapter II
Examination, Registration and Publication of Patent or Inventor’s Certificate
Section I
Administrative Examination
38.—(1) The examination carried out by the Office in accordance with Article 24 of the
Ordinance consists in checking that the provisions of Article 2(1) and of Articles 11, 12, 15,
16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 26, 29, 32, 35 and 36 of this Decree have been complied with by the
person or the persons filing an application.
(2) If one or more of those provisions have not been complied with, the Office shall
invite the applicant to correct his application within the time limits laid down in Article 13(4)
of this Decree and against payment of the fees laid down in Annex I.
(3) If the applicant does not comply with the invitation within the prescribed time
limits, the application shall be declared inadmissible, subject to the provisions of Article 34 of
this Decree.
Section II
State-of-the Art Search
39.—(1) In the case of international applications for patents or inventors’ certificates
filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty of June 19, 1970 (hereinafter referred to as “the
PCT”), the state-of-the-art search referred to in Article 25(1) of the Ordinance shall be
supplied by the applicant and, under Article 52 of that Ordinance, shall be replaced by the
international search report.
(2)(a) In the case of Malagasy applications for patents or inventors’ certificates, the
state of the art search report referred to in Article 25(1) of the Ordinance shall be supplied by
the applicant.
(b) The search report shall: