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During the grant procedure before the European Patent Office (EPO), divisional applications can be filed under . A divisional application, sometimes called European divisional application, is a new patent application which is separate and independent from the parent application, unless specific provisions in the European Patent Convention (EPC) require something different.〔 (Decision G 1/05 of the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the EPO ), Reasons 3.1 and 8.1. 〕 :"The procedure concerning the divisional application is in principle independent from the procedure concerning the parent application and the divisional application is treated as a new application.... Although there are some connections between the two procedures (e.g. concerning time limits), actions (or omissions) occurring in the procedure concerning the parent application after the filing of the divisional application should not influence the procedure concerning the latter...." 〔 Opinion G 4/98 in point 5 of the Reasons, cited in (decision G 1/05 of the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the EPO ), Reasons 8.1. 〕 The practice relating to the filing of divisional applications under the EPC was clarified by the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the EPO in June 2007. The Board held that a divisional application which on filing contained subject-matter extending beyond the content of the earlier application as filed could be amended later to remove the deficiency, even at a time when the earlier application is no longer pending.〔Decisions G 1/05 and G 1/06 of the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the EPO. 〕 == Background == The possibility to file a divisional application is provided in many patent systems and is guaranteed by Article 4.G. of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property of 1883, to which more than 170 countries are Contracting Parties.〔 World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) web site, (''Contracting Parties > Paris Convention (Total Contracting Parties : 174)'' ). Consulted on April 6, 2013. 〕 As to the nature of a divisional application, some basic characteristics are as follows: :"A divisional application is an application which derives from an earlier application. It is filed after the earlier application (usually some years later), but keeps the same filing and priority dates as the earlier application. That way the divisional is not affected in terms of its patentability by any publications which occur between the filing of the earlier application and the filing of the divisional. The earlier application is often referred to as the "parent"."〔 "''Divisional applications at the EPO''" (by Peter Watchorn) in (Patent Information News 2, June 2010 ), pages 4–6.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Divisional applications under the European Patent Convention」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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