Following are some details concerning amendments to the application:
The applicant may amend before or after the first examination and action
as specified in the rules, or when and as specifically required by the
examiner.
After final rejection or action, amendments may be made canceling claims
or complying with any requirement of form which has been made but the
admission of any such amendment or its refusal, and any proceedings
relative thereto, shall not operate to relieve the application from its
condition as subject to appeal or to save it from abandonment.
If amendments touching the merits of the application are presented after
final rejection, or after appeal has been taken, or when such amendment
might not otherwise be proper, they may be admitted upon a showing of
good and sufficient reasons why they are necessary and were not earlier
presented.
No amendment can be made as a matter of right in appealed cases. After
decision on appeal, amendments can only be made as provided in the
rules.
The specifications, claims, and drawing must be amended and revised when
required, to correct inaccuracies of description and definition or
unnecessary words, and to secure correspondence between the claims, the
description, and the drawing.
All amendments of the drawings or specifications, and all additions
thereto must not include new matter beyond the original disclosure.
Matter not found in either, involving a departure from or an addition to
the original disclosure, cannot be added to the application even though
supported by a supplemental oath or declaration, and can be shown or
claimed only in a separate application.
The claims may be amended by canceling particular claims, by presenting
new claims, or by amending the language of particular claims (such
amended claims being in effect new claims). In presenting new or amended
claims, the applicant must point out how they avoid any reference or
ground rejection of record which may be pertinent.
Erasures, additions, insertions, or alterations of the papers and
records must not be made by the applicant. Amendments are made by filing
a paper, directing or requesting that specified changes or additions be
made. The exact word or words to be stricken out or inserted in the
application must be specified and the precise point indicated where the
deletion or insertion is to be made.
Amendments are “entered” by the Office by making the proposed deletions
by drawing a line in red ink through the word or words canceled and by
making the proposed substitutions or insertions in red ink. Small
insertions are written in at the designated place and larger insertions
are indicated by reference.
No change in the drawing may be made except by permission of the Office.
Changes in the construction shown in any drawing may be made only by
submitting new drawings. A sketch in permanent ink showing proposed
changes, to become part of the record, must be filed for approval by the
Office before the new drawings are filed. The paper requesting
amendments to the drawing should be separate from other papers.
If the number or nature of the amendments render it difficult to
consider the case, or to arrange the papers for printing or copying, the
examiner may require the entire specification or claims, or any part
thereof, to be rewritten.
The original numbering of the claims must be preserved throughout the
prosecution. When claims are canceled, the remaining claims must not be
renumbered. When claims are added by amendment or substituted for
canceled claims, they must be numbered by the applicant consecutively
beginning with the number next following the highest numbered claim
previously presented. When the application is ready for allowance, the
examiner, if necessary, will renumber the claims consecutively in the
order in which they appear or in such order as may have been requested
by applicant.