How are amendments made during the international phase handled in U.S. national stage applications?

Amendments made during the international phase are handled as follows in U.S. national stage applications:

1. Amendments are included as annexes to the International Preliminary Examination Report (IPER).
2. Different versions of the description, claims, and drawings may be present in the national stage application file due to extensive amendments.
3. The IPER’s Box No. I “Basis of the report” indicates which pages were considered in the report.
4. Replacement sheets are marked with the international application number and receipt date.
5. Specific markings indicate the type of amendment:

• “SUBSTITUTE SHEET” for format changes
• “RECTIFIED SHEET (RULE 91)” for obvious error corrections
• “INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE (RULE 20.6)” for incorporated sheets
• “AMENDED SHEET (Article 19)” for claim amendments submitted to the International Bureau
• “AMENDED SHEET” for Article 34 amendments submitted to the IPEA

The MPEP notes: “Using the IPER as a roadmap of what happened during Chapter II examination will help determine which version should be examined.“

To learn more:

• International Phase Amendments
• National Stage Application
• IPER
• Replacement Sheets