[China] Requirements when further limiting an independent claim while amending an original dependent claim into an independent claim
Article information
Article type: Case note
Category: China
Topics: Issues discussed in the text
First published on this site: 2026-10-10
Display and classification checked: 2026-10-10
[China] Requirements when further limiting an independent claim while amending an original dependent claim into an independent claim
<Supreme People’s Court, Zhi Xing Zhong No. 556 (December 12, 2023)>
The patentee made corrections as shown in the table.
Because the substantive content and scope of protection of new Claim 2 and original Claim 3 are exactly the same, amended Claim 2 is original Claim 3; it was not obtained by combining original Claims 1 and 3. New Claim 2 is subject to examination.
<Key points of the holdings (2023)>
In patent-right confirmation proceedings, whether an amendment to a claim constitutes a “further limitation” should be assessed solely by determining whether the amended claim fully includes all technical features of the claim before amendment, whether the amended claim adds technical features compared with the claim before amendment, and whether those added technical features are recited in other claims of the original claim set.
An amendment that “further limits” a claim is limited to an amendment made to address grounds for invalidation. An act of creating claims anew is not accepted.
In the above case, incorporating Claims 2, 4 and 5 into Claim 1 constitutes a “further limitation.” In these circumstances, amending original Claim 3 into an independent claim is permissible because it does not create a claim anew.
Original article (2025-08-06):
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2026-10-10: First published the LinkedIn original on this site and set the classification, article information, and consultation link.
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