When an applicant revises a document, he usually doubts how far the revision can go. Article 33 of the Patent Law stipulates that an applicant may modify his patent application documents, but the modification of the application documents for patents for inventions and utility models shall not exceed the scope recorded in the original specifications and claims, and the modification of the application documents for patents for designs shall not exceed the scope indicated in the original pictures or photographs.
Specifically, the modification of the application documents cannot exceed the scope recorded in the original application documents, including: (1) the contents recorded in the original specification and claims; (2) According to the contents recorded in the original specification and claims and the attached drawings of the specification, the contents can be directly and clearly determined. Here are two simple examples.
Example 1: The applicant changed the "resin" recorded in the specification and claims to "condensed thermoplastic resin". Obviously, because "resin" is the superordinate concept of "condensed thermoplastic resin", the scope of "resin" is larger than that of "condensed thermoplastic resin", which makes the information seen by the technicians in this field different from that recorded in the original application. Therefore, this modification is not allowed.
Example 2: The applicant changed the "transparent glass" recorded in the specification and claims to "glass". Obviously, because "transparent glass" is a subordinate concept of "glass", the scope of "transparent glass" is smaller than "glass", which makes the information seen by "technicians in this field" different from the information recorded in the original application. Therefore, this modification is also not allowed.
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