美国OA中关于附图的相关问题

2021-10-29

　　文/北京集佳知识产权代理有限公司西安分所禹啸林

　　摘要由于美国专利法中关于附图部分的规定与国内的规定有不小的差异，国内的申请人在申请美国专利时还是会经常收到有关附图的OA。本文主要总结了附图OA的产生原因及答复手段，以供参考。

　　关键词：35 USC 113，37CFR 1.83，附图，全部特征，有效申请日

　　近期在处理美国OA时，连续收到了关于附图的OA，而其国内的优先权申请并未收到附图相关的OA。为此特地查阅了美国专利法中关于附图的相关规定，这些规定主要体现在美国法典（35 USC）的113条、美国联邦法规(37CFR)的1.83-1.85三个章节，以及MPEP 608.02中。

　　具体节选如下：

　　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."

　　国内专利法中关于附图内容的规定主要是“附图是说明书的一个组成部分。附图的作用在于图形补充说明文字部分的描述，使人能够直观地、形象化地理解发明或者实用新型的每个技术特征和整体技术方案。”（审查指南第二部分第二章的2.3章节）。

　　虽然各个国家专利申请中的附图的意义及作用基本类似，主要是对说明书文字部分进行补充描述，使人能够直观地、形象化地理解发明的每个技术特征和整体技术方案，但是（1）美国专利法中明确要求“附图必须体现权项的所有特征”（“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) 指出用以表示现有技术的方案的附图应该添加“--Prior Art--”标签。

　　国内申请人或代理人往往由于对以上两点认识不足而导致收到关于附图的OA。

　　了解了附图相关OA产生的原因之后，那么答复思路也就清晰了。针对第一类问题可以将原附图中未示出的特征以附图标记或者文字的形式添加到对应的附图中即可，也可以添加新的附图以体现相应的特征。这里需要注意的是，补交的附图不会引起申请日（不包括外观设计专利）的重新确定，这与国内的规定相差很大。关于补交附图的申请日的确定在MPEP 608.02(a)中有明确的规定。

　　“[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”

　　虽然补交的附图不会引起美国申请的申请日的重新确定，但是35 USC 113中也明确规定后补入的无法用于（i）克服由于缺乏有效的公开或其他不充分的公开而导致的说明书的任何不足；（ii）为了解释权利要求的范围，补充其原始公开内容。这实际上也就给后面补入的附图以足够的限制，也可以简单的理解为补入的附图不能超过原始公开的范围。

　　在补交附图时还应该留意附图是否体现了整个说明书中比较有技术价值的但未被权利要求包括的特征。这么做主要是考虑到后续很可能为了克服创造性问题，需要从说明书里提取这些特征并加入到权利要求中,如果没有提前补入则有可能再次引发类似的问题。

　　针对第二点处理方式比较简单。在对应的用来体现现有技术的附图下面添加“--Prior Art--”标签即可。

　　下面结合具体的案例来说明上面第一种OA的答复方式。

　　一个美国OA，独权1提到了“控制阀，与所述泄油通道连接，用于控制所述泄油通道的通断”（以下称为特征A），“所述第一摇臂的一端通过气门桥和气门弹簧与所述气门传动连接” （以下称为特征B）这两个特征，但上述两个特征均未在附图中体现。

　　其原始附图为下面2幅：