37 CFR 5.15 — Scope of license

37 CFR 5.15 — Scope of license.

(1) To export and file all duplicate and formal application papers in foreign countries or with foreign or international intellectual property authorities;

(2) To make amendments, modifications, and supplements, including divisions, changes or supporting matter consisting of the illustration, exemplification, comparison, or explanation of subject matter disclosed in the application; and

(i) Defense services or articles designated in the United States Munitions List applicable at the time of foreign filing, the unlicensed exportation of which is prohibited pursuant to the Arms Export Control Act, as amended, and 22 CFR parts 120 through 130; or

(ii) Restricted Data, sensitive nuclear technology or technology useful in the production or utilization of special nuclear material or atomic energy, dissemination of which is subject to restrictions of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Act of 1978, as implemented by the regulations for Assistance to Foreign Atomic Energy Activities, 10 CFR part 810, in effect at the time of foreign filing.

(b) Applications or other materials that were required to be made available for inspection under 35 U.S.C. 181 will be eligible for a license of the scope provided in this paragraph (b). Grant of this license authorizes the export of technical data pursuant to § 5.11(b) and the filing of an application in a foreign country or with any foreign or international intellectual property authority. Further, this license includes the authority to export and file all duplicate and formal papers in foreign countries or with foreign or international intellectual property authorities and to make amendments, modifications, and supplements to; file divisions of; and take any action in the prosecution of the foreign application, provided subject matter additional to that covered by the license is not involved.

(c) A license granted under § 5.12(b) pursuant to § 5.13 or § 5.14 shall have the scope indicated in paragraph (a) of this section, if it is so specified in the license. A petition, accompanied by the required fee (§ 1.17(g) of this chapter), may also be filed to change a license having the scope indicated in paragraph (b) of this section to a license having the scope indicated in paragraph (a) of this section. No such petition will be granted if the copy of the material filed pursuant to § 5.13 or any corresponding United States application was required to be made available for inspection under 35 U.S.C. 181 . The change in the scope of a license will be effective as of the date of the grant of the petition.

(d) In those cases in which no license is required to file or export the foreign application, no license is required to file papers in connection with the prosecution of the foreign application not involving the disclosure of additional subject matter.

(e) Any paper filed abroad or transmitted to a foreign or international intellectual property authority following the filing of a foreign application that changes the general nature of the subject matter disclosed at the time of filing in a manner that would require such application to have been made available for inspection under 35 U.S.C. 181 or that involves the disclosure of subject matter listed in paragraph (a)(3)(i) or (ii) of this section must be separately licensed in the same manner as a foreign application. Further, if no license has been granted under § 5.12(a) after filing the corresponding United States application, any paper filed abroad or with a foreign or international intellectual property authority that involves the disclosure of additional subject matter must be licensed in the same manner as a foreign application.

(1) Subject matter which changes the general nature of the subject matter disclosed at the time of filing or which involves subject matter listed in paragraphs (a)(3) (i) or (ii) of this section is not introduced and,

(2) In the case where at least one of the licenses was obtained under § 5.12(b) , additional subject matter is not introduced.

(g) A license does not apply to acts done before the license was granted. See § 5.25 for petitions for retroactive licenses.

[49 FR 13462, Apr. 4, 1984; paras. (a) - (c), (e) and (f), 56 FR 1924, Jan. 18, 1991, effective Feb. 19, 1991; paras. (a)-(c) and (e) revised, 62 FR 53132, Oct. 10, 1997, effective Dec. 1, 1997; para. (c) revised, 69 FR 56481, Sept. 21, 2004, effective Nov. 22, 2004; para. (a) introductory text and paras. (a)(3), (b), (d), and (e) revised, 80 FR 17918, Apr. 2, 2015, effective May 13, 2015; para. (a) introductory text and paras. (a)(1), (b) and (e) revised, 85 FR 61604, Sept. 30, 2020, effective Sept. 30, 2020]

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