Definition And Acceptable Conditions For "Disclaimer Amendment" From The Second-Instance Judgment Of The "Zirconia Case"

Introduction

"Disclaimer amendment" refers to a manner of claim amendment to exclude one or more technical features, thereby limiting the claim's scope of protection. Disclaimer amendment is a special type of amendment that is not common in patent practice, and therefore often causes confusion and misunderstanding. Recently, the Supreme People's Court made a second-instance judgment (Administrative Judgment No. 44 (2021)) on the patent application entitled "Method for producing a colored item, in particular orange, made from zirconia, and colored decorative item made from zirconia obtained according to this method (application No. 201480035281.2, hereinafter referred to as the zirconia case). The "disclaimer amendment" in patent practicewill further analyzed in light of the second-instance judgment of the zirconia case.