3.5.3 Convention claim and accepted application

An applicant will occasionally file an application that has equal priority, by virtue of its claim to convention priority, with another application that has already been accepted. This may occur in one of the following two ways:

• Application A does not claim convention priority, and is accepted. Application B does claim convention priority, and is subsequently examined. The convention priority date pertaining to application B is the same as application A’s New Zealand filing date.
• Application A claims convention priority, and is accepted. Application B also claims convention priority, and is subsequently examined. The convention priority date pertaining to the application B is the same as the convention priority date pertaining to application A.
  

Where an application is discovered to have equal priority, by virtue of its claim to convention priority, with another application that has already been accepted, the applications are both eligible for registration under the Act, where no other grounds for refusal exist. The examiner will not raise the accepted application as a citation against the other, nor revoke acceptance of the accepted application, but will notify each applicant of the other application.

The applicant in respect of the accepted application will be sent this notification in a letter, while the other applicant will receive the notification either within a Compliance Report or together with a Notice of Acceptance (as applicable).