Requirements for Divisional Applications

2023.12.05
Aki Ryuka
Japan Patent Attorney
Attorney at law, California

1. When can a divisional application be filed

2. Filing a divisional application with new claims?
If a feature is deleted when a divisional application is filed, the deleted feature cannot be reinstalled. Accordingly, we file a divisional application that is the same as the parent application and present new claims by translation or preliminary amendment. This preserves the maximum scope of future amendments.

3. First and final office action
If the parent application receives an OA before the examination is requested for the divisional application, the reasons for the parent OA must be cured in the divisional application beforehand. Otherwise, the first office action to the divisional application is final, and only the claim elements that already exist in the claim can be further limited.

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