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2.23.3.9 Amending a Complete Specification Under Section 104 to Comply with a Regulation 3.2A Direction

Date Published

Where a direction has issued under reg 3.2A as a result of the complete specification at filing being:

  1. in a foreign language; or
  2. relying for its disclosure in whole or in part on a cross-reference to an earlier foreign application;

the applicant may choose to comply with the direction by filing a request to amend under sec 104. In situation (i), a proposed amendment to substitute a replacement specification (in English) for the specification as filed is required, whilst in situation (ii), a proposed amendment is required to substitute the cross-reference with appropriate pages incorporating the matter the subject of the cross-reference.

Where applicants choose to comply with a reg 3.2A direction by filing a sec 104 request to amend, they may, in addition to proposing amendments that would meet the direction, include proposed amendments to the substantive text of the complete specification.

Where the sec 104 request does not have to be advertised, the reg 3.2A direction will be complied with provided, before expiry of the applicable period for compliance specified in reg 3.2A(5), the sec 104 request is allowed and the allowed amendments overcome the formalities deficiency.

If advertisement of the request to amend is required in accordance with reg 10.5(2) (after acceptance) the direction will be complied with provided, before expiry of the applicable period for compliance specified in reg 3.2A(5), the request is cleared for advertisement, and it is deemed that when the proposed amendments are allowed they could overcome the formalities deficiency.

In certain situations, an applicant may find it difficult to comply with a reg 3.2A direction to substitute certain pages of a specification, where there is no means of preparing pages of the required standard, without undesirably altering the substantive nature of the text. In Hewlett-Packard Company's Application (20390/76), the specification as lodged contained a program listing printed by a computer line printer. This program listing was objected to under reg 7B of the 1952 Act (equivalent to reg 3.2A). After representations from the applicant, which established that accurate reproduction of the original matter was not possible with a typewriter, a request to amend the specification under sec 77 of the 1952 Act, by deletion of the offending pages and incorporation of a reference to their availability in a US specification, was allowed.

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