GL B VI 6.1 General remark

As a general rule, the search division selects for citation only documents which are present in the search documentation or which it has access to in some other manner. In that way, no doubt exists about the contents of the documents cited, since the search division generally has physically inspected each document cited.

GL B VI 5.6 Matters of doubt in the state of the art

Since decisions with respect to novelty are not the responsibility of the search divisions but of the examining divisions (see B‑III, 1.1), the search divisions does not discard highly relevant documents because of doubt as regards for example the exact date of publication or public availability (e.g. standards or standard preparatory documents, see G‑IV, 7.6), or the exact contents of an oral disclosure, exhibition, etc. to which such documents may refer.

GL B VI 5.4 Documents published after the filing date

The search does not normally take into consideration documents published after the date of filing of the application as accorded by the Receiving Section.
However, certain situations may occur in which a document published after the filing date is relevant; examples are the written confirmation of an oral disclosures (see B‑VI, 2), or a later document containing the principle or theory underlying the invention, which may be useful for a better understanding of the invention, or a later document showing that t

GL B VI 4.2 National earlier rights

There may also be national applications of one or more states designated in the European application of which the dates of filing are prior to the filing or priority date of the European application, and which were published as national applications or patents on or after that date. Although such applications are not a bar to the grant of a European patent, but only a ground for revocation in the Contracting State(s) concerned, they may be of importance to the applicant (see H‑III, 4.4).

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