For the applicant for a patent for invention, there are two opportunities to modify the application documents. The first time is when the substantive examination request is made; The second time was to reply to Patent examiners's first notice of substantive examination opinions. The time for the applicant to modify the application documents for utility model patent and design patent is limited to 3 months from the date of application. At the same time, the law has restrictive provisions on the modification of patent application documents, that is, the modification of the application documents for invention or utility model shall not exceed the scope recorded in the original specification and claims. The modification of the application documents for a patent for design shall not exceed the scope shown in the original picture or photograph. That is to say, the modification of the specification is mainly limited to non-substantive parts, and it is not allowed to modify the substantive parts such as the purpose of the invention, technical scheme and embodiment. The modification of the claim shall be based on the specification and shall not exceed the scope of the specification. Modifications to design pictures or photos are limited to those with unclear lines or obvious errors in the view. When the application documents are revised and submitted, it is required to fill in the "Correction Letter" or "Statement of Opinions" as required, specify the name and content of the revised documents, submit the replacement page of the revised documents, and attach the "List of Documents Submitted after Application".
How to modify the patent application documents after submission?
(I) Submission of the replacement page According to the provisions of Article 52 of the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law, the replacement page shall be submitted in the prescribed format except for the modification, addition or deletion of individual words. There are two ways to submit a replacement page.
1. Submit the reprinted replacement page and the revised comparison table-this method is applicable to the instructions, claims and all modified drawings with more modifications. When submitting the replacement page, the applicant shall submit the comparison list before and after modification.
2. Submit the reprinted replacement page and the modified control page in the original copy-this method is suitable for the instructions and claims with less modified contents. The applicant shall submit the reprinted replacement page and the control page directly modified on the original at the same time, so as to facilitate the examiner to detect the modified content. The replacement page submitted by the applicant shall be in duplicate.
(2) the examiner to modify. Usually, the applicant must modify the application in the form of official documents. Examiners may modify, add or delete individual words and marks in the application documents and obvious errors in the title or abstract of the invention ex officio, and notify the applicant. At this point, you should use a pen, signature pen or ballpoint pen to make clear and obvious changes, not a pencil to make changes.