| If a request for withdrawal is filed within 15 months from the date of filing, the application will not become a prior-art because it has not been laid-open (if the application has been laid-open due to the applicant’s request to advance the laying-open, the said application will become prior-art); after the withdrawal, the application will not be laid-open. If a decision granting the patent right has been made within 15 months from the filing date, there should not be the problem of withdrawal (the withdrawal of an application is being interpreted as abandoning the right to request for grant resulting from the decision to grant the patent); if the applicant fails to pay the first-year annuity and the issue fee, the right shall be deemed non-existent ab initio, and thus will not be published. |
