QUESTION:
In divisional application, should the inventive concepts be same for the subsequent applications?
ANSWER:
100%. There is no doubt about it because what you do in a divisional is you repeat the description verbatim. Assume that there are 10 claims covering 2 inventions, 1-5 is one invention and the patent office feels that 6-10 is another invention altogether. Okay, so what you do is you cut and paste the entire description as it is because the disclosure is the same, and then paste 6-10 in another application what we call the divisional and you are going to say that these 5 claims you will give it up in the main application and say that the other 5 claims will now form another application, that is why it is called a divisional. This is called a divisional and the earlier application will be called the parent or the mother application. So it is an exercise of splitting claims. So inventive concepts have to be the same. What we mean by inventive concept is that the disclosure that is made will have to be the same.