Section 18, The Patents and Industrial Design Act, 2012

(1) The Registrar shall accord as the filing date, the date ofreceipt of the application, if at the time of receipt, the application contains - (a) an express or implicit indication that the granting of a patent is sought; (b) indications allowing the identity of the applicant to be established; (c) a part which, on the face of it, appears to be a description of an invention. (2) Where the Registrar finds that the application did not, at the time of receipt, fulfill the requirements referred to in subsection (1), the Registrar shall invite the applicant to file the required correction and shall accord as the filing date the date of receipt of the required correction, but if no correction is made, the application shall be regarded as void. (3) Where the application refers to drawings which are not included in the application, the Registrar shall invite the applicant to furnish the missing drawings; and if the applicant complies with the said invitation, the Registrar shall accord as the filing date, the date of receipt of the missing drawings, otherwise the Registrar shall accord as the filing date the date of receipt of the application and shall treat any references to the drawings as non-existent. (4) Where the request is accompanied by a statement on the rights to the patent, the Registrar shall send a copy of the statement to the inventor and the inventor shall have the right to inspect the application and to receive at his own expense, a copy thereof. (5) After according a filing date, the Registrar shall examine whether there are any of the following defects with respect to the application:- (a) the application does not comply with the requirements of subsections (1) and (3) of section 10; (b) the applicant has not complied with a request of the Registrar under section 16; or 10 11 Filing date. No. 10 Patents and Industrial Designs Act 2012 No. 10 Patents and Industrial Designs Act 2012 (c) the requisite fees have not been paid. (6) The details of the requirements and the procedure under this section shall be prescribed.