July 2009 Rule on Amending PCT Applications Revised

In a Federal Register notice on July 1, 2009, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced a revision to PCT procedures to conform U.S. patent rules to changes in PCT practice.

Under the PCT, applicants are required to submit replacement pages for only those pages which contain changes. The revision of PCT rules requires applicants to submit a complete set of the claims when amending any of the claims. 37 CFR §1.485 is amended as well to conform to the PCT changes. The changes to 37 CFR 1.485 are effective on July 1, 2009, and apply to any amendment filed in an international application on or after that date regardless of the filing date of the international application.

The Federal Register Notice can be found here:
http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/pdf/E9-15303.pdf