Outline of the expanded prior application (Patent Law Article 29-2)
According to Article 29-2 of the Patent Act, the invention or invention described in the specification, etc. at the beginning of the application of the earlier application, in which the application of the earlier application was published after the application of the later application, is the same as the invention of the later application. It stipulates that a patent cannot be obtained.
Even if there is novelty at the time of filing (Article 29, Paragraph 1 of the Patent Act), if the same invention of the previous application is subsequently published, the subsequent application will not publish any new invention and grant exclusive rights. Therefore, on condition that the application is published, the later application made before the publication of the application is excluded within the scope of the original specification, claims or drawings (Patent Law Article 29-2).
Requirements for application of regulations
After the application, it is required that another application, the prior application, be published, a patent publication gazette is issued, or a utility model gazette is issued.
Utility model registration applications are also subject to expansion prior applications.
This is because both ideas and inventions are the same as technical ideas.
It is required that the invention or device described in the specification, etc. (claims, specification, drawings) at the time of filing the earlier application is the same as the invention of the later application.
Matters deleted by amendment after application are also subject to the expanded prior application.
The "described invention" means an invention or device that can be grasped from the matters described in the specification, etc. at the beginning of the application or the matters equivalent to those described. "Matters equivalent to those described" means matters that can be derived from the matters described by taking into consideration the common general technical knowledge at the time of filing of other applications.
If the inventor of the earlier application and the later application are the same, this provision does not apply (Patent Act Article 29-2 brackets).
