(a) Pursuant to appointment by the Assembly, the United States Patent and Trademark Office will act as an International Preliminary Examining Authority for international applications filed in the United States Receiving Office and in other Receiving Offices as may be agreed upon by the Director, in accordance with agreement between the Patent and Trademark Office and the International Bureau.

(b) The United States Patent and Trademark Office, when acting as an International Preliminary Examining Authority, will be identified by the full title “United States International Preliminary Examining Authority” or by the abbreviation “IPEA/US.”

(c) The major functions of the International Preliminary Examining Authority include:

(1) Receiving and checking for defects in the Demand;

(2) Forwarding Demands in accordance with PCT Rule 59.3;

(3) Collecting the handling fee for the International Bureau and the preliminary examination fee for the United States International Preliminary Examining Authority;

(4) Informing applicant of receipt of the Demand;

(5) Considering the matter of unity of invention;

(6) Providing an international preliminary examination report which is a non-binding opinion on the questions of whether the claimed invention appears: to be novel, to involve an inventive step (to be nonobvious), and to be industrially applicable; and

(7) Transmitting the international preliminary examination report to applicant and the International Bureau.

[52 FR 20047, May 28, 1987, as amended at 63 FR 29617, June 1, 1998]