EPO practice confirmed on adaptation of description - Fondee IP Law LLC

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An expert workshop held on 23 June 2022 confirmed the EPO practice that a patent application’s description must be made consistent with its amended claims under Article 84 EPC. The workshop brought together user representatives, Boards of Appeal members, national judges, examiners and lawyers to discuss the legal and practical aspects of adaptation.

The discussion compared the 2022 Guidelines for Examination with recent case law and highlighted the need to remove inconsistent disclosure so the public is not presented with information that conflicts with the claims. The EPO said the findings would feed into revisions of the relevant Guidelines, and it will continue to monitor developments in case law on description adaptation and claim-like clauses.