Scope of Permission to Amend the Claim in the Patent Application: A Comparative Study in the United States, Britain and International Documents

Amendment of claim in application before issuance of the patent is considered accepted in most legal systems of the world. What is being challenged is allowance of the amendment of the claims in the application after the issuance of the patent. The Iranian legislature has limited the possibility of amendment before the issuance of the patent, and his silence regarding the possibility of amendment after the issuance of the patents indicates on impermissibility of them. American and British judicial proceedings insist on the permission of amendments even after the issuance of the patent. The European Patent Convention (EPC) is an important regional document that allows these amendments in terms of legal conditions despite the enumeration of the competitive risks of allowing amendments on the one hand and requirements of balance between rights of inventors and the standards of competition right and antitrust norms on the other hand. Our research is primarily library-based. The authors are trying to draw the legislator's attention to the benefits of the permission of the amendments even after issuance of the patent. And they are also trying to mention the rules governing the limitations of the amendments in the light of discussed jurisdictions