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R.13 PCT Unity of Invention

13.1 Requirement

The international application shall relate to one invention only or to a group of inventions so linked as to form a single general inventive concept ("requirement of unity of invention").

13.2 Circumstances in Which the Requirement of Unity of Invention Is to Be Considered Fulfilled

Where a group of inventions is claimed in one and the same international application, the requirement of unity of invention referred to in Rule 13.1 shall be fulfilled only when there is a technical relationship among those inventions involving one or more of the same or corresponding special technical features. The expression "special technical features" shall mean those technical features that define a contribution which each of the claimed inventions, considered as a whole, makes over the prior art.

13.3 Determination of Unity of Invention Not Affected by Manner of Claiming

The determination whether a group of inventions is so linked as to form a single general inventive concept shall be made without regard to whether the inventions are claimed in separate claims or as alternatives within a single claim.

13.4 Dependent Claims

Subject to Rule 13.1, it shall be permitted to include in the same international application a reasonable number of dependent claims, claiming specific forms of the invention claimed in an independent claim, even where the features of any dependent claim could be considered as constituting in themselves an invention.

13.5 Utility Models

Any designated State in which the grant of a utility model is sought on the basis of an international application may, instead of Rules 13.1 to 13.4, apply in respect of the matters regulated in those Rules the provisions of its national law concerning utility models once the processing of the international application has started in that State, provided that the applicant shall be allowed at least two months from the expiration of the time limit applicable under Article 22 to adapt his application to the requirements of the said provisions of the national law.

Source: http://www.wipo.int/pct/en/texts/articles/r13.htm

Date retrieved: 17 May 2021

113 references found.

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EPO Guidelines - C Procedureal Aspects of Substantive Examination

X GL C III 2.3 Searches under Rule 164(2)

EPO Guidelines - F The European Patent Application

X GL F V 1 Introduction

EPO PCT GL - B Search

X GL-PCT B VII 2 Lack of unity at the search stage

X GL-PCT B VII 8 Lack of unity and incomplete search

X GL-PCT B VIII 3.6 Combination of an incomplete search and lack of unity

X GL-PCT B X 1 General

X GL-PCT B X 8 Restriction of the subject of the search

EPO PCT GL - F (not assigned)

X GL-PCT F IV 3.3 Independent and dependent claims

X GL-PCT F V 1 General remarks

X GL-PCT F V 2 Special technical features

X GL-PCT F V 9 Dependent claims

X GL-PCT FOREWORD 2.1 Overview

X GL-PCT FOREWORD 3.1 Annex I: EPC-PCT concordance table

EPO Guide for Applicants, part II Int. - C The EPO as ISA and SISA

X GA C3.3.7 3.3.7.

PCT Articles

X A.22 PCT Copy, Translation, and Fee, to Designated Offices

PCT Implementing Rules

X R.78 PCT Amendment of the Claims, the Description, and the Drawings, before Elected Offices

PCT Newsletter - Practical Advice

X PA 08/2008: The consequences of a finding by the ISA of lack of unity of invention

X PA 09/2008: The consequences of a finding of lack of unity of invention of an international application on (i) the international preliminary examination and (ii) the national phase

X PA 03/2009: Payment of additional preliminary examination fees in case of earlier finding of lack of unity of invention by the International Searching Authority

X PA 07/2009: The options available for the filing of international applications containing sequence listings

X PA 07/2013: Amending the international application in order to address a finding of lack of unity of invention

Offical Journal of the EPO

X OJ EPO SE 4/2016, p443 - Notice from the European Patent Office dated 24 March 2010 concerning the protest and review procedures under the PCT

X OJ EPO 2010, 322 - Notice from the European Patent Office dated 24 March 2010 concerning the protest and review procedures under the PCT

Case Law Book: II Conditions to be met by an Application

X CLR II B 1 Introduction

X CLR II B 2.1 Plurality of independent claims

X CLR II B 2.2 Dependent claims

X CLR II B 2.3 Intermediate products

X CLR II B 3.1 General approach – content of claims

X CLR II B 3.2 Assessment of lack of unity at the search stage

X CLR II B 4.1 Determination of the technical problem

X CLR II B 4.2 Examination as to novelty and inventive step

X CLR II B 5.1 General

X CLR II B 5.2 Special technical features and inventive character of the single general concept

X CLR II B 5.3 Unity of single claims defining alternatives ("Markush claims")

Case Law of the Enlarged Board

X G 0001/89 (Polysuccinate esters) of 2.5.1990

X G 0002/89 (Non-unity a posteriori) of 2.5.1990

General Case Law

X T 0631/97 (Doped regions/TOSHIBA) of 17.2.2000

X W 0004/85 (Heat-exchanger) of 22.4.1986

X W 0007/85 (Insulating powder) of 5.6.1987

X W 0003/87 () of 30.9.1987

X W 0002/88 (Transmission line) of 10.4.1989

X W 0003/88 (Lubricants) of 8.11.1988

X W 0029/88 () of 28.11.1988

X W 0031/88 (Beta blockers) of 9.11.1988

X W 0032/88 (Process - apparatus) of 28.11.1988

X W 0035/88 () of 7.6.1989

X W 0044/88 (Surface-active substances) of 31.5.1989

X W 0003/89 () of 11.4.1989

X W 0007/89 (Agent antiparasitaire) of 15.12.1989

X W 0011/89 (Fibre fleece) of 9.10.1989

X W 0012/89 (Polysuccinate esters) of 29.6.1989

X W 0013/89 () of 12.7.1990

X W 0016/89 () of 29.11.1989

X W 0017/89 () of 2.3.1991

X W 0019/89 (Dehalogenation) of 14.11.1991

X W 0027/89 () of 21.8.1990

X W 0030/89 () of 7.6.1990

X W 0032/89 () of 7.8.1990

X W 0006/90 (Single general concept) of 19.12.1990

X W 0018/90 () of 17.8.1990

X W 0019/90 () of 2.10.1990

X W 0024/90 () of 5.10.1990

X W 0026/90 () of 9.11.1990

X W 0036/90 () of 4.12.1990

X W 0038/90 () of 13.3.1991

X W 0039/90 () of 12.2.1991

X W 0048/90 (Arthropodicidal compounds) of 22.4.1991

X W 0059/90 (PhosphonigsÃ¤urearylester) of 20.6.1991

X W 0006/91 (Amidocarboxy surfactants) of 3.4.1992

X W 0008/91 () of 26.2.1992

X W 0014/91 () of 3.6.1991

X W 0016/91 (Antitumormittel) of 25.11.1991

X W 0017/91 (DNA fragment) of 8.8.1991

X W 0021/91 (Synergistische Herbizide) of 19.2.1992

X W 0022/91 () of 10.2.1992

X W 0023/91 (Latency associated peptide) of 8.9.1992

X W 0028/91 (First invitation) of 27.2.1992

X W 0031/91 () of 20.12.1991

X W 0035/91 (Oxygenated pyrimidines) of 28.9.1992

X W 0052/91 (Ancrod Ã¤hnliche Proteine) of 19.10.1992

X W 0054/91 () of 28.1.1992

X W 0005/92 () of 28.2.1992

X W 0010/92 (Malatenzym) of 30.10.1992

X W 0022/92 (Sensitization) of 16.11.1992

X W 0029/92 () of 19.10.1993

X W 0032/92 (Cervical punch) of 15.10.1992

X W 0034/92 () of 23.11.1993

X W 0038/92 () of 22.10.1993

X W 0040/92 () of 1.3.1993

X W 0045/92 () of 15.10.1993

X W 0052/92 (Medicaments) of 2.4.1993

X W 0009/93 (Chlorination) of 14.7.1994

X W 0001/94 (Arylpyrazoles) of 29.7.1994

X W 0003/94 (Ketonoxim-O-ether) of 15.12.1994

X W 0008/94 () of 21.11.1994

X W 0002/95 (Etikettenbogen) of 18.10.1995

X W 0006/95 (Pyrimidine derivatives) of 16.7.1996

X W 0001/96 (Peptides) of 22.5.1996

X W 0004/96 (Teeth whitening) of 20.12.1996

X W 0006/96 (Modulators of Acetylcholine Receptors/SIBIA) of 15.4.1997

X W 0001/97 (Tandem repeat loci) of 15.11.1997

X W 0006/97 (Foamed pressure sensitive tapes) of 18.9.1997

X W 0006/98 () of 17.12.1998

X W 0011/99 (Percarbonate) of 20.10.1999

X W 0018/01 () of 23.1.2002

X W 0009/02 () of 23.9.2002

X W 0009/03 () of 22.12.2003

X W 0017/03 (Radio frequency identification/3M) of 20.9.2004

X W 0021/04 () of 25.5.2007

X W 0009/07 (Interference mitigation/ERICSSON) of 25.2.2008

X W 0034/07 (Coated ceramics/CSGI) of 21.12.2011

X W 0001/10 () of 21.1.2011

X W 0002/10 (Rotary furnace/BAT) of 22.12.2011