Because the record of changes to the application body may be distributed across the files of several different Offices, it is particularly important that the international publication include clear markup showing which parts of the application are as originally filed and which have been the subject of corrections, amendments and rectifications. For applications filed in XML format, for the purpose of the arrangement referred to in section B2, above, the International Bureau marks up the changes at the level of paragraphs and drawings, rather than sheets. However, this is done by inserting text into the XML, which can be interpreted by a stylesheet to give suitable markup in HTML or PDF format, but does not give “clean” XML showing the proper text of the application.
The International Bureau has drafted an Annex F proposal for change (PFC) that would enable the markup to be transformed into a structured XML markup that would properly separate the markup from paragraph text. The resulting XML would include a clean view of the international application as updated, but also retain the original texts and images with information to indicate their original locations, allowing a reader to review and compare the versions of a document from the original to the published version. This would give a technically superior result but be more complicated than the present system to implement. A discussion of the benefits and the costs of the required functionality is desirable before other full text processing proposals are taken further.
The International Bureau seeks advice as to whether it should proceed with this Annex F Proposal For Change (PFC).