Article 31 of the Patent Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) (hereinafter referred to as the Patent Law) stipulates the requirement of singularity of patent application. An application for a patent for invention or utility model shall be limited to one invention or utility model, and an application for a patent for design shall be limited to one design. Where an application for a patent includes two or more inventions, utility models or designs, according to Article 42 of the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Patent Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) (hereinafter referred to as the Detailed Rules), the applicant may file a divisional application on his own initiative or according to the opinions of the examiner.
The original intention of setting up the divisional application system is to consider that when a patent application has a single defect, it can provide a relief way for the applicant, and it is also a relief way to protect other inventions that the applicant cannot protect in a patent application. In addition, as a special application, divisional application enjoys its special rights. The divisional application can enjoy the filing date of the original application, and the priority date can be enjoyed if the original application has priority. At the same time, there are special requirements for submitting divisional applications. The content of the divisional application shall not exceed the scope of the original application, and the category of the original application shall not be changed. In addition, the time for filing a divisional application shall be in accordance with the provisions of Article 42 of the detailed rules for implementation or according to the opinions of the examiner. The applicant of the divisional application shall be consistent with the original application, and the inventor shall also be consistent with the original application or some of its members.
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