Guidelines for Examination

When lack of unity is established, the sequence of the claimed (groups of) inventions will normally start with the invention first mentioned in the claims ("first" invention); see also B-VII, 1.1 and B-VII, 2.3. In other words, as a general rule the division of subject-matter follows the order of appearance of the different inventions in the claims. The content of the dependent claims will be taken into account when determining the first invention.