从《专利法》第33条探析“修改超范围”审查中的两个问题

Study on the Standard of "Claims Amendment Beyonds Initial Description":From the Perspective of the Legislative Purpose of Article 33 of The Patent Law

正确理解修改后权利要求保护范围,是判断"修改是否超范围"的基础。当事人在意见陈述书中对权利要求作出的超出所属领域技术人员通常理解的解释,应当以说明书中存在相关描述为前提,并且不应与所属领域技术人员阅读专利说明书后得到的理解相矛盾。《专利法》第33条源于先申请制,判断修改是否超出"原说明书及权利要求书的记载范围",关键是从所属领域技术人员的角度来看,修改后的内容是否是申请人在申请日时就有的本意。

Correctly understanding the protection scope of the amended claims is the basis of estimating whether the amendment is beyond the disclosed scope in its initial claims description or not. If normal technicist in related field can not understand the interpretation for the claims in the opinion statement, the specification should have related description and can not contradict the normal technicist＇understanding. Article 33 of patent law originates from the first-to-file principle, so the key to estimate whether the amendment is beyond the initial scope or not is to judge whether the applicant have had the idea of the amendment content at the date of application or not.