Trilateral Project 24.1-Biotechnology 152

(Case a)

When an invention concerning an allelic mutant has a different sequence (amino acid sequence or nucleotide sequence) from the sequence which has been actually determined in publicly known literature, the claimed invention is regarded as being novel over prior art document if the claim is specified with this sequence.

(Case b)

When an invention of later application concerning an allelic mutant has a different sequence (amino acid sequence or nucleotide sequence) from a sequence which was actually determined in a patent specification of a prior application, such a claimed invention is not substantially identical to an invention of earlier application if the claim of later application is specified with this sequence.

However, when a claimed invention relating to a sequence (amino acid sequence or nucleotide sequence) of an allelic mutant, which has the same properties and functions and has the same origin as the sequence disclosed in the specification of a prior application, is defined in such a comprehensive way as hybridization type claims or addition/deletion/substitution type claims, the claimed invention and the cited invention are deemed substantially identical (the difference in embodied means to solve a problem is considered as a very minor difference / i.e., addition, deletion, or replacing of well-known or commonly used art, generating no new effects).