German Patent Law Part 3 Procedure Before the Patent Office

34.

(1) Patent applications for the grant of a patent for invention shall be filed with the Patent Office.

(2) Patent applications may also be filed through a Patent Information Center where an announcement by the Federal Ministry of Justice in the Federal Law Gazette has designated such center for receiving patent applications. Patent applications that may contain a State secret (Section 93 of the Penal Code [Strafgesetzbuch]) may not be filed with a Patent Information Center.

(3) Patent applications shall contain:

1. the name of the applicant;
2. a request for the grant of a patent, which shall designate the invention clearly and concisely;
3. one or more claims defining the matter for which protection is sought;
4. a description of the invention;
5. any drawings referred to in the claims or the description.

(4) Patent applications shall disclose the invention in a manner sufficiently clear and complete for it to be carried out by a person skilled in the art.

(5) The patent application shall relate to one invention only or to a group of inventions so linked as to form a single general inventive concept.

(6) A fee as prescribed by the schedule of fees shall be paid with the patent application. If the fee is not paid, the Patent Office shall notify the applicant that the patent application will be deemed to have been withdrawn unless the fee is paid before the end of one month after service of the notification.

(7) The Federal Ministry of Justice shall have power to issue by statutory order regulations concerning the form and other requirements of the patent application. It may delegate such power by statutory order to the President of the Patent Office.

(8) At the request of the Patent Office, the applicant shall state the prior art fully and truthfully to the best of his knowledge and incorporate it in the description (subsection (3)).

(9) The Federal Ministry of Justice shall have power to issue by statutory order regulations concerning the deposit of biological material, access to such material, including those persons entitled to have access and the repeated deposit of biological material where an invention comprises the use of biological material or concerns such material that is not accessible to the public and cannot be described in the patent application in such a way that a person skilled in the art could carry out the invention (subsection (4)). It may delegate such power by statutory order to the President of the Patent Office.

35.

(1) If the patent application is not drafted or is not drafted wholly in German, the applicant shall be required to file a German translation within three months of the filing of the patent application. If the patent application contains a reference to drawings and no drawings accompany the patent application, the Patent Office shall invite the applicant to file the drawings or to declare that any reference to drawings shall be deemed not to have been made, within one month of service of the invitation.

(2) The filing date of the patent application shall be the date on which the elements referred to in Section 34(3)1 and 2 and, if they contain any statements that would appear to constitute a description, the element referred to in Section 34(3)4, have been received

1. at the Patent Office; or
2. at a Patent Information Center where such center has been designated for that purpose in an announcement by the Federal Ministry of Justice in the Federal Law Gazette.

If the elements are not drafted in German, this shall apply only if a German translation is received by the Patent Office within the period of time referred to in the first sentence of subsection (1); if such is not done, the patent application shall be deemed not to have been filed. If the applicant files the omitted drawings after having been invited to do so in accordance with the second sentence of subsection (1), the date of receipt of the drawings at the Patent Office shall constitute the filing date; if such is not done, any reference to the drawings shall be deemed not to have been made.

36.

(1) Patent applications must be accompanied by an abstract which can be filed up to 15 months from the filing date or, where an earlier date is claimed for the patent application, up to 15 months from that date.

(2) Abstracts shall merely serve for use as technical information. They shall contain

1 the title of the invention;
2. a concise summary of the disclosure as contained in the patent application, which shall indicate the technical field of the invention and shall be drafted in such a way that it permits a clear understanding of the technical problem, its solution and the main use or uses of the invention;
3. a drawing, if mentioned in the concise summary; if several drawings are mentioned, the drawing that, in the opinion of the applicant, most clearly identifies the invention.

37.

(1) Within a period of 15 months from the filing date or, if an earlier date is claimed as relevant to the patent application, within 15 months from such date, the applicant shall name the inventor or inventors and affirm that to his knowledge no other person has contributed to the invention. If the applicant is not the inventor or not the sole inventor, he shall also state how he acquired the right to the patent. The correctness of such statement shall not be verified by the Patent Office.

(2) If the applicant can justifiably show that he has been prevented by exceptional circumstances from making in due time the declarations prescribed in subsection (1), the Patent Office shall grant him a reasonable extension of time. The time limit shall not be prolonged beyond the time of issue of the decision to grant a patent. If by that time the aforesaid circumstances still exist, the Patent Office shall grant another extension. Six months before the expiration of the time limit, the Patent Office shall notify the patentee that the patent will lapse if he does not make the prescribed declarations within six months after service of the notification.

38.

Up to the time of the decision to grant a patent, the contents of the patent application may be amended on condition that the scope of the subject matter of the patent application is not extended; however, until a request for examination is filed (Section 44), only the correction of obvious mistakes, the remedying of defects pointed out by the Examining Section or amendments to claims shall be permissible. No rights may be derived from amendments which broaden the scope of the subject matter of the patent application.

39.

(1) An applicant may at any time divide his patent application. The division shall be declared in writing. If the division is declared after the filing of the request for examination (Section 44), the separated part shall be deemed an patent application for which a request for examination has been filed. The date of the original patent application and any claimed priority shall be maintained for each divisional patent application.

(2) For the period up to division, the same fees which were payable for the original patent application shall be paid for the separated patent application. This shall not apply to the fee under Section 43 if the division is declared prior to the filing of the request for examination (Section 44), unless a request under Section 43 is filed for the separated patent application.

(3) If the elements of the patent application required by Sections 34 to 36 are not filed for the separated patent application within three months of receipt of the declaration of division, or the fees for the separated patent application have not been paid within such period, the declaration of division shall be deemed not to have been made.

40.

(1) An applicant shall enjoy, within a period of 12 months from the filing date of an earlier patent or utility model patent application filed with the Patent Office, a priority right with respect to a patent application for the same invention, unless a domestic or foreign priority had already been claimed for the earlier patent application.

(2) The priority of more than one patent application for a patent or utility model filed with the Patent Office may be claimed for the patent application.

(3) Priority may only be claimed for those features of the patent application which are clearly disclosed in the totality of the patent application documents for the earlier patent application.

(4) Priority may only be claimed within two months of the filing date of the later patent application; the declaration of priority shall only be deemed to have been made if the reference number of the earlier patent application is given.

(5) If the earlier patent application is still pending before the Patent Office, it shall be deemed withdrawn at the time of making the declaration of priority under subsection (4). This shall not apply if the early patent application concerns a utility model.

(6) If inspection of the file is requested (Section 31) for a later patent application that claims the priority of an earlier patent or utility model patent application, the Patent Office shall include a copy of the earlier patent or utility model patent application in the file of the later patent application.

41.

(1) Any person who, in accordance with an international treaty, claims the date of an earlier foreign patent application for the same invention shall, before the end of the 16th month following the priority date, state the date, country and reference number of the earlier patent application and file a copy of the earlier patent application where such has not already been done. Particulars may be altered within those periods. Where the particulars are not provided in due time, the priority claim for the patent application shall be forfeited.

(2) Where the earlier foreign patent application has been filed in a State not bound by an international agreement on the recognition of priority, the applicant may claim a right of priority corresponding to that under the Paris Convention, provided that, after publication by the Federal Ministry of Justice in the Federal Law Gazette, the other State grants a right of priority for a first filing with the Patent Office, which is, according to its requirements and contents comparable to that under the Paris Convention; subsection (1) shall be applicable.

42.

(1) If the patent application obviously does not comply with the requirements of Sections 34, 36, 37 and 38, the Examining Section shall request the applicant to remedy the defects within a specified period. If the patent application does not comply with the provisions in respect of the form and other requirements for patent applications (Section 34(7)), the Examining Section may refrain from objecting to the defects until the start of the examination procedure (Section 44).

(2) If the subject matter of the patent application obviously

1. does not, by reason of its nature, constitute an invention;
2. is not susceptible of industrial patent application;
3. is excluded from patentability under Section 2; or
4. its purpose is not, in the case of the second sentence of Section 16(1), an improvement or further development of the other invention,

the Examining Section shall notify the applicant thereof, stating its reasons, and invite him to submit his comments within a specified period. The same shall apply if, in the case of the second sentence of Section 16(1), the additional patent application has not been filed within the specified period.

(3) The Examining Section shall reject the patent application if the defects referred to in subsection (1) are not remedied or the patent application is maintained although obviously no patentable invention exists (subsection (2), items 1 to 3) or the requirements of the second sentence of Section 16(1) are obviously not met (subsection (2), first sentence, item 4, second sentence). If rejection is to be based on facts that have not yet been communicated to the applicant, he shall first be given an opportunity to submit his comments within a specified period.

43.

(1) The Patent Office shall, upon request, identify those publications to be taken into consideration in assessing the patentability of the invention in respect of which an patent application has been filed. Where the search for such publications is assumed for all or for certain technical fields, wholly or in part, by an international institution (subsection (8), item 1), a request may be submitted that the search be made in such a way that the applicant can also use the result for a European patent application.

(2) The request may be filed by the patent applicant or by any other person, whereby the latter shall not thereby become a participant in the procedure. The request shall be filed in writing. Section 25 shall be applicable mutatis mutandis. A fee as prescribed by the schedule of fees shall be paid with the request; if the fee is not paid, the request shall be deemed not to have been filed. If the request is filed in connection with an patent application for a patent of addition (Section 16(1), second sentence), the Patent Office shall invite the applicant to file a request as specified in subsection (1), before the expiration of one month after the invitation in connection with the patent application for the main patent; if no request is filed, the patent application for the patent of addition shall be regarded as an patent application for an independent patent.

(3) The filing of the request shall be published in the Patent Gazette, but not before publication of the notification pursuant to Section 32(5). If the request is filed by a person other than the applicant, the applicant shall also be notified of the filing of the request. Any person shall be entitled to inform the Patent Office of publications which might oppose the grant of a patent.

(4) The request shall be deemed not to have been filed if a request pursuant to Section 44 has already been filed. In such case, the Patent Office shall notify the person making the request of the date of filing of the request pursuant to Section 44. The fee paid for the request shall be refunded.

(5) If a request pursuant to subsection (1) has been filed, subsequent requests shall be deemed not to have been filed. The second and third sentences of subsection (4) shall be applicable mutatis mutandis.

(6) If a request filed by a person who is not the applicant is found to be ineffective after notification of the applicant (subsection (3), second sentence), the Patent Office shall also advise the applicant thereof in addition to such other person.

(7) The Patent Office shall communicate the publications ascertained in accordance with subsection (1) to the applicant and, if the request has been filed by another person, to such person and the applicant, without guarantee as to their completeness, and shall publish in the Patent Gazette the fact that such communication has been made. If the publications have been searched by an international institution and if the applicant has so requested (subsection (1), second sentence), this shall be stated in the communication.

(8) To accelerate the patent granting procedure, the Federal Minister for Justice shall have power to direct by statutory order that

1. the search for the publications specified in subsection (1) shall be assigned to a section of the Patent Office other than the Examining Section (Section 27(1)) or to another national or international institution, in whole or for certain technical fields or certain languages, provided that the institution concerned appears competent to search for the publications to be taken into consideration;
2. the Patent Office shall provide foreign or international authorities with data from the files of patent applications for their mutual information on the results of examination procedures and state-of-the-art searches, where the patent applications concerned relate to inventions in respect of which the grant of a patent has also been applied for to such foreign or international authorities;
3. the examination of patent applications according to Section 42 and the supervision of fees and time limits shall be transferred in whole or in part to sections of the Patent Office other than the Examining Sections or Patent Divisions (Section 27(1)).

44.

(1) The Patent Office shall examine on request whether the patent application complies with the requirements of Sections 34, 37 and 38 and whether the subject matter of the patent application is patentable under Sections 1 to 5.

(2) The request may be filed by the applicant or by any other person, whereby the latter shall not become a participant in the examination procedure, prior to the expiration of seven years after the filing of the patent application.

(3) A fee as prescribed in the schedule of fees shall be paid with the request; if the fee is not paid, the request shall be deemed not to have been filed.

(4) If a request pursuant to Section 43 has already been filed, the examination procedure shall begin only after the request pursuant to Section 43 has been dealt with. In other respects, Section 43(2), second, third and fifth sentences, and subsections (3), (5) and (6) shall be applicable mutatis mutandis. If a request filed by a person other than the applicant is ineffective, the applicant himself may file a request within a period of three months from service of the notification, provided that such period expires later than the period specified in subsection (2). If the applicant does not file a request, a notice shall be published in the Patent Gazette, referring to the publication of the request filed by such other person and stating that the request is ineffective.

(5) The examination procedure shall be continued even if the request for examination is withdrawn. In the case under the third sentence of subsection (4), the procedure shall be continued from the point which it had reached at the time the applicant’s request for examination was filed.

45.

(1) If the patent application does not comply with the requirements of Sections 34, 37 and 38 or if the requirements of Section 36 are manifestly not fulfilled, the Examining Section shall request the applicant to remedy the defects within a specified period. The first sentence shall not apply to defects concerning the abstract, where the abstract has already been published.

(2) If the Examining Section reaches the conclusion that the invention is not patentable under Sections 1 to 5, it shall notify the applicant thereof, shall state its grounds, and shall invite the applicant to submit his comments within a specified period.

46.

(1) The Examining Section may at any time summon and hear the parties, may examine witnesses, experts and the parties, whether under oath or not, and may institute other inquiries necessary for clarification of the matter. Before a decision is taken as to publication, the patent applicant shall be given a hearing on request where appropriate. The request shall be filed in writing. If the request is not filed in the prescribed form or if the Examining Section does not consider a hearing to be appropriate, it shall reject the request. A decision to reject a request shall not be subject to interlocutory appeal.

(2) Minutes of the hearing and examination of witnesses shall be taken, which shall reproduce the essentials of the proceedings and shall contain those declarations of the parties that are relevant in law. Sections 160a, 162 and 163 of the Code of Civil Procedure shall apply mutatis mutandis. The parties shall receive a copy of the minutes.

47.

(1) The decisions of the Examining Sections shall contain the grounds, shall be in writing and shall be communicated ex officio to the parties. They may also be pronounced at the end of a hearing; the first sentence shall remain unaffected. Grounds need not be given if the applicant is the sole party and his request is allowed.

(2) The written copy shall be accompanied by a statement informing the parties of possible appeal from the decision, of the authority with which an appeal may be lodged, of the time limit for lodging an appeal and of the appeal fee, if any, to be paid. The time limit for lodging an appeal (Section 73(2)) shall begin to run only when the parties have been informed in writing. If they have not been informed or have been incorrectly informed, an appeal may only be lodged within one year from service of the decision, except where information has been given in writing that an appeal was not permissible; Section 123 shall apply mutatis mutandis.

48.

The Examining Section shall reject the patent application if the defects objected to under Section 45(1) have not been remedied or if examination shows that the invention is not patentable under Sections 1 to 5. The second sentence of Section 42(3) shall be applicable.

49.

(1) If the patent application complies with the requirements of Sections 34, 37 and 38, if defects in the abstract objected to under Section 45(1) have been remedied and if the subject matter of the patent application is patentable in accordance with Sections 1 to 5, the Examining Section shall order the grant of a patent.

(2) The decision to grant shall be deferred at the request of the applicant for a period of 15 months beginning either with the date on which the patent application is filed with the Patent Office or, if an earlier date has been claimed, with such earlier date.

49a.

(1) If the person registered as patentee requests supplementary protection, the Patent Division shall examine whether the patent application complies with the relevant Council Regulation of the European Economic Community and with subsections (3) and (4) and Section 16a.

(2) If the patent application complies with those requirements, the Patent Division shall grant a supplementary certificate of protection for the duration of its term. In the contrary case, it shall invite the applicant to rectify any defect within a time limit to be set by the Patent Division, which shall be of at least two months. If the defects are not remedied, it shall reject the patent application by a decision.

(3) Section 34(7) shall apply. Sections 46 and 47 shall apply to the proceedings before the Patent Division.

(4) The patent application shall be accompanied by a fee as prescribed in the schedule of fees. If the fee is not paid, the Patent Office shall notify the applicant that the patent application will be deemed to have been withdrawn if the fee is not paid within one month after service of the notification.

50.

(1) If a patent is sought in respect of an invention which is a State secret (Section 93 of the Penal Code), the Examining Section shall order ex officio that no publication shall take place. The competent supreme federal authority shall be heard before the order is issued. The latter authority may request that an order be issued.

(2) The Examining Section shall cancel ex officio or at the request of the competent supreme federal authority or of the applicant or patentee an order under subsection (1) when the relevant grounds cease to exist. The Examining Section shall examine at yearly intervals whether the grounds of the order under subsection (1) continue to exist. Before an order under subsection (1) is cancelled, the competent supreme federal authority shall be heard.

(3) The Examining Section shall notify the parties if no appeal has been lodged within the time limit (Section 73(2)) against a decision of the Examining Section refusing a request for the issue of an order under subsection (1) or canceling an order under subsection (1).

(4) Subsections (1) to (3) shall apply mutatis mutandis to inventions which have been kept secret by a foreign State for reasons of defense and have been entrusted to the Federal Government with its consent and on condition that it maintain secrecy.

51.

The Patent Office shall permit the competent supreme federal authority to inspect the files in order to examine whether, in accordance with Section 50(1), no publication shall take place or whether an order issued under Section 50(1) shall be cancelled.

52.

(1) A patent application containing a State secret (Section 93 of the Penal Code) may only be filed, outside the territory to which this Law applies, with the written consent of the competent supreme federal authority. Consent may be given subject to the fulfillment of conditions.

(2) Any person who

l. files an patent application in violation of the first sentence of subsection (1); or
2. acts in violation of a condition under the second sentence of subsection (1)

shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding five years or to a fine.

53.

(1) If no order under Section 50(1) is served on the applicant within a period of four months after the filing of the patent application with the Patent Office, the applicant or any other person having knowledge of the invention may assume, when in doubt as to whether the invention is required to be kept secret (Section 93 of the Penal Code), that the invention need not be kept secret.

(2) If examination of whether, in accordance with Section 50(1), publication of an patent application is not to take place cannot be concluded within the period mentioned in subsection (1), the Patent Office may, by means of a notice to be served on the applicant within the period mentioned in subsection (1), extend this period by a maximum of two months.

54.

If a patent has been granted in respect of an patent application for which an order under Section 50(1) was issued, the patent shall be recorded in a Special Register. The first sentence of Section 31(5) shall apply mutatis mutandis to the inspection of the Special Register.

55.

(1) An applicant, a patentee or his successor in title who refrains from using or ceases to use for peaceful purposes an invention which is patentable under Sections 1 to 5 as a result of an order under Section 50(1), shall have a claim for compensation, in respect of the damage thereby caused to him, against the Federal Republic if and to the extent that he cannot reasonably be expected to bear the damages himself. In determining the extent to which he can reasonably be expected to do so, account shall be taken, in particular, of the financial position of the injured party, the amount of expenditure incurred by him for the invention or for acquiring title thereto, the degree to which the probability that the invention would have to be kept secret could have been recognized by him at the time the expenditure was incurred, and the profit derived by the injured party from other exploitation of the invention. A claim may only be asserted after a patent has been granted. Compensation may be claimed only after it has become due and for periods which shall not be shorter than one year.

(2) A claim shall be asserted before the competent supreme federal authority. Legal action may be instituted before the ordinary courts.

(3) Compensation under subsection (1) shall be awarded only if the first patent application in respect of the invention has been filed with the Patent Office and the invention has not already been kept secret by a foreign State for reasons of defense before the issue of an order under Section 50(1).

56.

The Federal Government shall have power to determine by statutory order the competent supreme federal authority within the meaning of Sections 31(5), 50 to 55 and 74(2).

57.

(1) A fee for grant shall be paid for the grant of the patent in accordance with the schedule of fees. The fee shall fall due on service of the decision to grant. If it is not paid within two months of becoming due, the surcharge prescribed by the schedule of fees shall be paid. After the expiration of such period, the Patent Office shall notify the patentee that the patent will be deemed not to have been granted and the patent application will be deemed to have been withdrawn if the fee and the surcharge are not paid within one month after service of the notification.

(2) If the fee and the surcharge are not paid in due time following service of the official notification, the patent shall be deemed not to have been granted and the patent application to have been withdrawn.

58.

(1) The grant of a patent shall be published in the Patent Gazette. The patent specification shall be published at the same time. The legal effects of the patent shall come into force on publication in the Patent Gazette.

(2) If the patent application is withdrawn after publication of the reference to the possibility of inspection of the files (Section 32(5)) or is refused or is deemed withdrawn, the effects under Section 33(1) shall be deemed not to have come into force.

(3) If no request for examination is filed before the expiration of the period prescribed in Section 44(2) or if the annual fee payable for the patent application is not paid in due time (Section 17), the patent application shall be deemed to have been withdrawn.

59.

(1) Within three months of the publication of grant, any person, but only the injured party in the case of usurpation, may give notice of opposition to the patent. Opposition shall be lodged in writing and grounds shall be stated. The opposition may be based only on the assertion that one of the grounds of opposition mentioned in Section 21 exists. The facts which justify the opposition shall be stated in detail. The particulars must, if not already contained in the document of opposition, be subsequently provided in writing before the expiration of the opposition period.

(2) In the event of opposition to a patent, any person who proves that proceedings for infringement of the same patent have been instituted against him may, after the opposition period has expired, intervene in the opposition proceedings, provided he gives notice of intervention within three months of the date on which the infringement proceedings were instituted. The same shall apply in respect of any person who proves both that the proprietor of the patent has demanded that he cease alleged infringement of the patent and that he has instituted proceedings for a ruling that he is not infringing the patent. Notice of intervention shall be filed in writing stating the reasons therefor before the expiration of the period mentioned in the first sentence. The third to fifth sentences of subsection (1) shall apply mutatis mutandis.

(3) The third sentence of Section 43(3) and Sections 46 and 47 shall apply mutatis mutandis in opposition proceedings.

60.

(1) Up to the completion of opposition proceedings, a patentee may divide his patent. If division is declared, the separated part shall be deemed to be an patent application for which a request for examination (Section 44) has been filed. Section 39(1), second and fourth sentences and subsections (2) and (3) shall apply mutatis mutandis. For the separated part, the effects of the patent shall be deemed not to have come into force ab initio.

(2) The division of the patent shall be published in the Patent Gazette.

61.

(1) The Patent Division shall decide whether and to what extent the patent shall be maintained or revoked. The proceedings shall be continued ex officio without the opponent if the opposition has been withdrawn.

(2) If the patent is revoked or maintained with limitations, the fact shall be published in the Patent Gazette.

(3) If the patent has been maintained with limitations, the patent specification shall be correspondingly amended. The amendment of the patent specification shall be published.

62.

(1) In its decision on the opposition, the Patent Office may at its equitable discretion determine to what extent the costs arising from a hearing or the taking of evidence shall be borne by a party. This shall also apply if the opposition is wholly or partly withdrawn or if the patent is relinquished.

(2) The costs shall include, in addition to the expenses of the Patent Office, the costs incurred by the parties to the extent that they were necessary for the appropriate defense of their interests and rights. The amount of the costs to be awarded shall be determined by the Patent Office upon request. The provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure relating to the procedure for the assessment of costs and execution of decisions regarding the assessment of costs shall apply mutatis mutandis. An appeal shall lie in place of a complaint from the decision regarding the assessment of costs; Section 73 shall apply with the proviso that the appeal be lodged within two weeks. The enforceable copy shall be issued by the registrar of the Patent Court.

63.

(1) The inventor shall be mentioned as such in the published patent application (Section 32(2)), in the patent specification (Section 32(3)) and in the publication of the grant of the patent (Section 58(1)), if he has already been mentioned. Such mention shall be entered in the Register (Section 30(1)). It shall be omitted if the inventor designated by the applicant so requests. The request may be withdrawn at any time; in the event of withdrawal, mention shall be effected thereafter. Renunciation by the inventor of the right to be mentioned as such shall have no legal effect.

(2) If the identity of the inventor is incorrectly given or, in the case of the third sentence of subsection (1), is not given at all, the applicant or the patentee or the person wrongly mentioned shall be under an obligation to the inventor to declare to the Patent Office that they consent to having the mention provided for in the first and second sentences of subsection (1) corrected or subsequently effected. Consent shall be irrevocable. The procedure for the grant of the patent shall not be delayed by the bringing of an action for a declaration of consent.

(3) Subsequent mention of the inventor (subsection (1), fourth sentence, and subsection (2)) or the correction (subsection (2)) shall not be effected in official publications which have already been published.

(4) The Federal Minister for Justice shall have power to issue by statutory order regulations for the implementation of the foregoing provisions. He may delegate this power by statutory order to the President of the Patent Office.

64.

(1) A patent may be limited with retroactive effect, at the request of the patentee, by amending the patent claims.

(2) The request shall be filed in writing and the grounds on which it is based shall be stated. A fee as prescribed by the schedule of fees shall be paid with the request; if the fee is not paid, the request shall be deemed not to have been filed.

(3) The Patent Division shall decide on the request. Sections 44(1) and 45 to 48 shall be applicable mutatis mutandis. In the decision whereby the request is granted, the patent specification shall be adapted to the limitation. The amendment of the patent specification shall be published.