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Guided answer
How do I answer a Section 3 objection?
Each clause needs different evidence. Using the wrong one wastes the reply.
You need efficacy data.
The Explanation deems salts, esters, polymorphs, isomers, particle sizes, complexes and combinations to be the same substance unless they differ significantly in properties with regard to efficacy. For a medicine the Supreme Court has held that means therapeutic efficacy, judged strictly - and that improved bioavailability alone does not establish it.
- Produce a comparison against the known substance, on therapeutic efficacy, not on physicochemical properties.
- Data generated after the priority date can often be filed, but it cannot rescue a specification that never asserted the effect.
- If the data does not exist, the honest question is whether it can be generated - and how long that takes.
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This is educational guidance, not personalised legal advice. It cannot see your documents, your dates or the prior art, and those are usually what decide the answer. Use it to understand the question, then take advice on your own facts.
Not sure whether this applies to your invention?
The honest answer usually needs someone to look at your actual disclosure, your timeline and the prior art. That is a conversation, not an article.
