Article 1378. Amending the Documents of an Invention, Utility Model or Industrial Design Application

1. The applicant is entitled to amend the documents of the invention, utility model or industrial design application, for instance by means of filing additional materials, until a decision on issuing a patent or refusing to issue a patent is taken on the application, unless the amendment changes the essence of the declared invention, utility model or industrial design. The additional materials are deemed to change the essence of the declared invention, utility model or industrial design if they comprise the features which are supposed to be included in the invention or utility model claim but which had not been disclosed as of the priority date in the documents serving as the ground for the establishment thereof, and also in the invention or utility model claim if as of the priority date the application contained the invention or utility model claim. The additional materials are deemed to change the essence of the declared industrial design if they comprise features which were supposed to be included in the list of significant features of the industrial design but which are lacking on the images of the article when the application is filed.

2. A change in the details of the applicant, for instance when a right to obtain a patent is assigned to another person or due to the change of name of the applicant, and also the correction of obvious and technical errors may be made to the documents of the application until the registration of the invention, utility model or industrial design.

3. If the documents of an application are amended on the initiative of the applicant within two months after the filing of the application no patent duty shall be levied for the amendments.

4. The amendments made by the applicant to the documents of an invention application shall be taken into account when information on the application is published if such amendments are presented to the federal executive governmental body charged with intellectual property matters within 12 months after the filing of the application.

Article 1379. Transforming an Invention or Utility Model Application

1. Until the publication of information on an invention application (Item 1 of Article 1385) but not later than the date of a decision on the issuance of a patent the applicant is entitled to transform it into a utility model application by means of filing an appropriate application with the federal executive governmental body charged with intellectual property matters, except for cases when the application is accompanied by an application proposing to conclude a contract for the alienation of the patent described in Item 1 of Article 1366 of the present Code.

2. The transformation of a utility model application into an invention application is permitted until the date of a decision on the issuance of a patent, or if a decision on refusing to issue a patent is taken, until the completion of the appeal against such decision envisaged by the present Code.

3. If an invention or utility model application is transformed in accordance with Items 1 or 2 of the present article the priority of the invention or utility model and the date of filing of the application shall remain intact.

Article 1380. Withdrawing an Invention, Utility Model or Industrial Design Application An applicant is entitled to withdraw his/its invention, utility model or industrial design application until the registration of the invention, utility model or industrial design in the relevant register.