2.4.6 Requests for amendments filed at an advanced stage in proceedings

According to the Guidelines, any request by an applicant to replace the text of the application on the basis of which a patent could be granted by a text that has been extensively revised should be refused, unless the applicant gives good reasons for proposing the changes only at this stage in the proceedings (Guidelines H‑II, 2.4 – March 2022 version).

In T 222/21 the board noted that Guidelines H‑II, 2.4 (November 2019 version) was incomplete insofar as it merely referred to the criterion of whether the text was "extensively revised", i.e. a quantitative criterion. It held that this point should be read in conjunction with point H‑II, 2.5.1 of the Guidelines ("Criteria for admitting such amendments"). It followed from these two points, read in conjunction, that what mattered for the exercise of the discretion to admit or not to admit, if the text was extensively revised, was the content of the amendments and the consequential amount of time for examination that the amendments prima facie required. It was this amount of time that determined whether the amendments were extensive.