Q: Is it possible to split a patent up, once it's been filed?
A:
Yes, this happens all the time. This is often done because, under the US law, a patent has to claim only ONE invention, so if the claims are directed to several inventions, the Patent Office asks the inventor to select which of the claims the Patent Office should examine. The rest of the claims are usually canceled, and the inventor can file another patent application with those canceled claims.
Typically, the only difference between these patents are the claims; the rest of the patent is usually the same.
A:
To build upon the first answer...
Ideally, you give this some thought before you file so that you do not pay a lot in extra claim fees on the first application and then split the claims across two or three applications later. You will not get a refund for the extra claim fees that you paid.
Care must be taken to carefully claim the priority back to the original application or you may lose patent rights.
I hope this helps.
Kevin E Flynn
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