美國OA中關于附圖的相關問題

2021-10-29

　　文/北京集佳知識產權代理有限公司西安分所禹嘯林

　　摘要由于美國專利法中關于附圖部分的規定與國內的規定有不小的差異，國內的申請人在申請美國專利時還是會經常收到有關附圖的OA。本文主要總結了附圖OA的產生原因及答復手段，以供參考。

　　關鍵詞：35 USC 113，37CFR 1.83，附圖，全部特征，有效申請日

　　近期在處理美國OA時，連續收到了關于附圖的OA，而其國內的優先權申請并未收到附圖相關的OA。為此特地查閱了美國專利法中關于附圖的相關規定，這些規定主要體現在美國法典（35 USC）的113條、美國聯邦法規(37CFR)的1.83-1.85三個章節，以及MPEP 608.02中。

　　具體節選如下：

　　35 USC 113:

　　The applicant shall furnish a drawing where necessary for the understanding of the subject matter sought to be patented. When the nature of such subject matter admits of illustration by a drawing and the applicant has not furnished such a drawing, the Director may require its submission within a time period of not less than two months from the sending of a notice thereof. Drawings submitted after the filing date of the application may not be used (i) to overcome any insufficiency of the specification due to lack of an enabling disclosure or otherwise inadequate disclosure therein, or (ii) to supplement the original disclosure thereof for the purpose of interpretation of the scope of any claim.

　　37 CFR 1.83:

　　（a）The drawing in a non-provisional application must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. However, conventional features disclosed in the description and claims, where their detailed illustration is not essential for a proper understanding of the invention, should be illustrated in the drawing in the form of a graphical drawing symbol or a labeled representation (e.g., a labeled rectangular box). In addition, tables that are included in the specification and sequences that are included in sequence listings should not be duplicated in the drawings.

　　（b）When the invention consists of an improvement on an old machine the drawing must when possible exhibit, in one or more views, the improved portion itself, disconnected from the old structure, and also in another view, so much only of the old structure as will suffice to show the connection of the invention therewith.

　　（c）Where the drawings in a non-provisional application do not comply with the requirements of paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section, the examiner shall require such additional illustration within a time period of not less than two months from the date of the sending of a notice thereof. Such corrections are subject to the requirements of §1.81(d).

　　MPEP 608.02（g）

　　Figures showing the prior art are usually unnecessary and should be canceled. Ex parte Elliott, 1904 C.D. 103, 109 OG 1337 (Comm’r Pat. 1904). However, where needed to understand applicant’s invention, they may be retained if designated by a legend such as "Prior Art."

　　國內專利法中關于附圖內容的規定主要是“附圖是說明書的一個組成部分。附圖的作用在于圖形補充說明文字部分的描述，使人能夠直觀地、形象化地理解發明或者實用新型的每個技術特征和整體技術方案。”（審查指南第二部分第二章的2.3章節）。

　　雖然各個國家專利申請中的附圖的意義及作用基本類似，主要是對說明書文字部分進行補充描述，使人能夠直觀地、形象化地理解發明的每個技術特征和整體技術方案，但是（1）美國專利法中明確要求“附圖必須體現權項的所有特征”（“The drawing in a non-provisional application must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims” 37 CFR 1.83 （a））；（2）另外，MPEP 608.02(g) 指出用以表示現有技術的方案的附圖應該添加“--Prior Art--”標簽。

　　國內申請人或代理人往往由于對以上兩點認識不足而導致收到關于附圖的OA。

　　了解了附圖相關OA產生的原因之后，那么答復思路也就清晰了。針對第一類問題可以將原附圖中未示出的特征以附圖標記或者文字的形式添加到對應的附圖中即可，也可以添加新的附圖以體現相應的特征。這里需要注意的是，補交的附圖不會引起申請日（不包括外觀設計專利）的重新確定，這與國內的規定相差很大。關于補交附圖的申請日的確定在MPEP 608.02(a)中有明確的規定。

　　“[f]or applications filed on or after December 19, 2013, other than design applications, 35 U.S.C 111 no longer requires that an application contain a drawing where necessary for the understanding of the subject matter sought to be patented to be entitled to a filing date”

　　雖然補交的附圖不會引起美國申請的申請日的重新確定，但是35 USC 113中也明確規定后補入的無法用于（i）克服由于缺乏有效的公開或其他不充分的公開而導致的說明書的任何不足；（ii）為了解釋權利要求的范圍，補充其原始公開內容。這實際上也就給后面補入的附圖以足夠的限制，也可以簡單的理解為補入的附圖不能超過原始公開的范圍。

　　在補交附圖時還應該留意附圖是否體現了整個說明書中比較有技術價值的但未被權利要求包括的特征。這么做主要是考慮到后續很可能為了克服創造性問題，需要從說明書里提取這些特征并加入到權利要求中,如果沒有提前補入則有可能再次引發類似的問題。

　　針對第二點處理方式比較簡單。在對應的用來體現現有技術的附圖下面添加“--Prior Art--”標簽即可。

　　下面結合具體的案例來說明上面第一種OA的答復方式。

　　一個美國OA，獨權1提到了“控制閥，與所述泄油通道連接，用于控制所述泄油通道的通斷”（以下稱為特征A），“所述第一搖臂的一端通過氣門橋和氣門彈簧與所述氣門傳動連接” （以下稱為特征B）這兩個特征，但上述兩個特征均未在附圖中體現。

　　其原始附圖為下面2幅：