37 CFR 1.173 — Reissue specification, drawings, and amendments

37 CFR 1.173 — Reissue specification, drawings, and amendments.

(1) Specification, including claims. The entire specification, including the claims, of the patent for which reissue is requested must be furnished in the form of a copy of the printed patent, in double column format, each page on only one side of a single sheet of paper. If an amendment of the reissue application is to be included, it must be made pursuant to paragraph (b) of this section. The formal requirements for papers making up the reissue application other than those set forth in this section are set out in § 1.52 . Additionally, a copy of any disclaimer (§ 1.321 ), certificate of correction (§§ 1.322 through 1.324 ), or reexamination certificate (§ 1.570 ) issued in the patent must be included. (See also § 1.178 ).

(2) Drawings. Applicant must submit a clean copy of each drawing sheet of the printed patent at the time the reissue application is filed. If such copy complies with § 1.84 , no further drawings will be required. Where a drawing of the reissue application is to include any changes relative to the patent being reissued, the changes to the drawing must be made in accordance with paragraph (b)(3) of this section. The Office will not transfer the drawings from the patent file to the reissue application.

(i) Changes to the specification, other than to the claims, “Large Tables” (§ 1.58(c) ), a “Computer Program Listing Appendix” (§ 1.96(c) ), a “Sequence Listing” (§ 1.821(c) ), or a “Sequence Listing XML” (§ 1.831(a) ), must be made by submission of the entire text of an added or rewritten paragraph, including markings pursuant to paragraph (d) of this section, except that an entire paragraph may be deleted by a statement deleting the paragraph, without presentation of the text of the paragraph. The precise point in the specification where any added or rewritten paragraph is located must be identified.

(ii) Changes to “Large Tables,” a “Computer Program Listing Appendix,” a “Sequence Listing,” or a “Sequence Listing XML” must be made in accordance with § 1.58(g) for “Large Tables,” § 1.96(c)(5) for a “Computer Program Listing Appendix,” § 1.825 for a “Sequence Listing,” and § 1.835 for a “Sequence Listing XML.”

(2) Claims. An amendment paper must include the entire text of each claim being changed by such amendment paper and of each claim being added by such amendment paper. For any claim changed by the amendment paper, a parenthetical expression “amended,” “twice amended,” etc., should follow the claim number. Each changed patent claim and each added claim must include markings pursuant to paragraph (d) of this section, except that a patent claim or added claim should be canceled by a statement canceling the claim without presentation of the text of the claim.

(i) A marked-up copy of any amended drawing figure, including annotations indicating the changes made, may be included. The marked-up copy must be clearly labeled as “Annotated Marked-up Drawings” and must be presented in the amendment or remarks section that explains the change to the drawings.

(ii) A marked-up copy of any amended drawing figure, including annotations indicating the changes made, must be provided when required by the examiner.

(c) Status of claims and support for claim changes. Whenever there is an amendment to the claims pursuant to paragraph (b) of this section, there must also be supplied, on pages separate from the pages containing the changes, the status ( i.e., pending or canceled), as of the date of the amendment, of all patent claims and of all added claims, and an explanation of the support in the disclosure of the patent for the changes made to the claims.

(1) The matter to be omitted by reissue must be enclosed in brackets; and

(2) The matter to be added by reissue must be underlined.

(e) Numbering of patent claims preserved. Patent claims may not be renumbered. The numbering of any claim added in the reissue application must follow the number of the highest numbered patent claim.

(f) Amendment of disclosure may be required. The disclosure must be amended, when required by the Office, to correct inaccuracies of description and definition, and to secure substantial correspondence between the claims, the remainder of the specification, and the drawings.

(g) Amendments made relative to the patent. All amendments must be made relative to the patent specification, including the claims, and drawings, which are in effect as of the date of filing of the reissue application.

[Revised, 65 FR 54604, Sept. 8, 2000, effective Nov. 7, 2000; para. (b)(3) revised, 68 FR 38611, June 30, 2003, effective July 30, 2003; para. (b) introductory text revised, 69 FR 56481, Sept. 21, 2004, effective Oct. 21, 2004; paras. (b)(1) and (d) revised, 86 FR 57035, Oct. 14, 2021, effective Nov. 15, 2021; paras. (b)(1) and (d) introductory text revised, 87 FR 30806, May 20, 2022, effective July 1, 2022]

[top]