2.20.10.2 Formality Considerations

Where Article 19, Article 34 or Rule 91 amendments have been made, unusual formality situations may arise. For example:

• amended claims may have an unusual numbering arrangement - see 2.20 Annex F – Amended Claims Format where claims 3-6 are cancelled (Example 1) and where claim 25 is the first claim (Example 2).
• the amendments may result in non-sequential page numbering.

Such numbering is an allowable formality under the PCT and does not give rise to an objection during national examination. However, the applicant may voluntarily renumber the claims and/or pages by amendment under sec 104 as outlined below.

Article 19 Amendments

Where the pamphlet includes both the original claims and the claims as amended under Article 19, examiners should not object to the presence of the original claims.  Instead, a statement is to be included in the ‘Additional Comments’ section of the report as follows:

'I have examined this application on the basis of the claims as amended under Article 19. You may wish to correct the non-sequential page/claim numbering caused by the Article 19 amendments.'

This text will be automatically included in the report in DocGen (by responding ‘Yes’ to the question ‘Do any Article 19 amendments result in non-sequential page/claim numbering?’).

Article 34 Amendments

Where Article 34 amendments result in non-sequential page or claim numbering, examiners should not object, but instead include a statement in the ‘Additional Comments’ section of the report as follows:

‘I have examined this application on the basis of the specification as amended under Article 34. You may wish to correct the non-sequential page/claim numbering caused by the Article 34 amendments.’

This text will be automatically included in the report in DocGen (by responding ‘Yes’ to the question ‘Do any Article 34 amendments result in non-sequential page/claim numbering?’).