論發明專利申請“修改不得超範圍”之判斷

Study on the Judgment of “Amendments Shall Not Go Beyond the Scope” for Patent Application for Invention

對發明專利申請檔修改不得超出原說明書和權利要求書記載的範圍（以下簡稱“修改不得超範圍”）的判斷是審查實踐中廣泛涉及的問題，在實審、複審、無效以及訴訟各階段均被高度關注。當前有關“修改不得超範圍”的判斷標準及判斷尺度的把握，在理論和實踐中存在很多爭議和不確定之處，亟待解決。以兩個法院判決引出問題，深入研究我國、歐洲和美國對於涉及擴大權利要求保護範圍的幾種典型修改方式的相關規定和判斷方法，比較各國專利體系中對此問題的審查標準和處理方式的優缺之處，全面系統地給出關於如何統一我國“修改不得超範圍”判斷的標準和尺度的意見和建議。

The judgment of amendments to patent application documents for invention shall not go beyond the scope of disclosure contained in the initial description and claims (hereinafter referred to as “amendments shall not go beyond the scope”) is a widely involved question in the examination practice. The question is given highly attention in the process of substantive examination, reexamination, invalidation and litigation. As to current criterion for judgment of “amendments shall not go beyond the scope” and the scale of judgment, there are disputes and uncertainty in theory and practice needing to be resolved urgently. The thesis arises a question from two judicial decisions, and makes an intensive study on the correlative provisions and ways of judgment in SIPO, EPO and USPTO, especially for several typical amendment leading to the broadening of claims, and compares the merits and demerits of the examination criterions and processing methods of the question in the patent systems of SIPO, EPO and USPTO, and then raises comments and suggestions on how to unify the criterion and scale for judgment of “amendments shall not go beyond the scope” in SIPO.