102 Information as to Status of an Application [R-07.2022]
37 CFR 1.14 Patent applications preserved in confidence.
- (a) Confidentiality of patent application information. Patent
applications that have not been published under 35 U.S.C.
122(b) are generally preserved in confidence pursuant to
35 U.S.C.
122(a). Information concerning the filing, pendency, or
subject matter of an application for patent, including status information, and
access to the application, will only be given to the public as set forth in §
1.11 or in this section.
- (1) Records associated with patent applications (see paragraph (g)
of this section for international applications and paragraph (j) of this
section for international design applications) may be available in the
following situations:
- (i) Patented applications and statutory invention registrations. The file of an application that has issued as a patent or published as a statutory invention registration is available to the public as set forth in §1.11(a). A copy of the patent application-as-filed, the file contents of the application, or a specific document in the file of such an application may be provided upon request and payment of the appropriate fee set forth in § 1.19(b).
- (ii) Published abandoned applications. The file of an abandoned published application is available to the public as set forth in §1.11(a) . A copy of the application-as-filed, the file contents of the published application, or a specific document in the file of the published application may be provided to any person upon request and payment of the appropriate fee set forth in § 1.19(b) .
- (iii) Published pending applications. A copy of the application-as-filed, the file contents of the application, or a specific document in the file of a pending published application may be provided to any person upon request and payment of the appropriate fee set forth in § 1.19(b) . If a redacted copy of the application was used for the patent application publication, the copy of the specification, drawings, and papers may be limited to a redacted copy. The Office will not provide access to the paper file of a pending application that has been published, except as provided in paragraph (c) or (i) of this section.
- (iv) Unpublished abandoned applications (including provisional applications) that are identified or relied upon. The file contents of an unpublished, abandoned application may be made available to the public if the application is identified in a U.S. patent, a statutory invention registration, a U.S. patent application publication, an international publication of an international application under PCT Article 21(2) , or a publication of an international registration under Hague Agreement Article 10(3) of an international design application designating the United States. An application is considered to have been identified in a document, such as a patent, when the application number or serial number and filing date, first named inventor, title, and filing date or other application specific information are provided in the text of the patent, but not when the same identification is made in a paper in the file contents of the patent and is not included in the printed patent. Also, the file contents may be made available to the public, upon a written request, if benefit of the abandoned application is claimed under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) ,120 , 121 , 365(c), or 386(c) in an application that has issued as a U.S. patent, or has published as a statutory invention registration, a U.S. patent application publication, an international publication of an international application under PCT Article 21(2), or a publication of an international registration under Hague Agreement Article 10(3). A copy of the application-as-filed, the file contents of the application, or a specific document in the file of the application may be provided to any person upon written request and payment of the appropriate fee (§ 1.19(b) ).
- (v) Unpublished pending applications (including provisional applications) whose benefit is claimed. A copy of the file contents of an unpublished pending application may be provided to any person, upon written request and payment of the appropriate fee (§ 1.19(b)), if the benefit of the application is claimed under 35 U.S.C. 119(e), 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) in an application that has issued as a U.S. patent, or in an application that has published as a statutory invention registration, a U.S. patent application publication, an international publication of an international application under PCT Article 21(2), or a publication of an international registration under Hague Agreement Article 10(3). A copy of the application-as-filed or a specific document in the file of the pending application may also be provided to any person upon written request and payment of the appropriate fee (§ 1.19(b)). The Office will not provide access to the paper file of a pending application, except as provided in paragraph (c) or (i) of this section.
- (vi) Unpublished pending applications (including provisional applications) that are incorporated by reference or otherwise identified. A copy of the application as originally filed of an unpublished pending application may be provided to any person, upon written request and payment of the appropriate fee (§ 1.19(b)), if the application is incorporated by reference or otherwise identified in a U.S. patent, a statutory invention registration, a U.S. patent application publication, an international publication of an international application under PCT Article 21(2), or a publication of an international registration under Hague Agreement Article 10(3) of an international design application designating the United States. The Office will not provide access to the paper file of a pending application, except as provided in paragraph (c) or (i) of this section.
- (vii) When a petition for access or a power to inspect is required. Applications that were not published or patented, that are not the subject of a benefit claim under 35 U.S.C. 119(e), 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) in an application that has issued as a U.S. patent, an application that has published as a statutory invention registration, a U.S. patent application publication, an international publication of an international application under PCT Article 21(2) , or a publication of an international registration under Hague Agreement Article 10(3), or are not identified in a U.S. patent, a statutory invention registration, a U.S. patent application publication, an international publication of an international application under PCT Article 21(2) , or a publication of an international registration under Hague Agreement Article 10(3) of an international design application designating the United States, are not available to the public. If an application is identified in the file contents of another application, but not the published patent application or patent itself, a granted petition for access (see paragraph (i)) or a power to inspect (see paragraph (c) of this section) is necessary to obtain the application, or a copy of the application.
- (2) Information concerning a patent application may be
communicated to the public if the patent application is identified in a
published patent document or in an application as set forth in paragraphs
(a)(1)(i) through (a)(1)(vi) of this section. The information that may be
communicated to the public (i.e., status information)
includes:
- (i) Whether the application is pending, abandoned, or patented;
- (ii) Whether the application has been published under 35 U.S.C. 122(b);
- (iii) The application “numerical identifier” which may be:
- (A) The eight-digit application number (the two-digit series code plus the six-digit serial number); or
- (B) The six-digit serial number plus any one of the filing date of the national application, the international filing date, or date of entry into the national stage; and
- (iv) Whether another application claims the benefit of the application (i.e., whether there are any applications that claim the benefit of the filing date under 35 U.S.C. 119(e), 120, 121, 365, or 386 of the application), and if there are any such applications, the numerical identifier of the application, the specified relationship between the applications (e.g., continuation), whether the application is pending, abandoned or patented, and whether the application has been published under 35 U.S.C. 122(b).
- (1) Records associated with patent applications (see paragraph (g)
of this section for international applications and paragraph (j) of this
section for international design applications) may be available in the
following situations:
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Status information of an application means only the following information:
- (A) whether the application is pending, abandoned, or patented;
- (B) whether the application has been published;
- (C) the application number or the serial number plus any one of the filing date of the national application, the international filing date or the date of entry into the national stage; and
- (D) whether another application claims the benefit of the application (i.e., whether there are any applications that claim the benefit of the filing date under 35 U.S.C. 119(e), 120, 121, 365, or 386 of the application), and if there are any such applications, status information therefor as set forth in 37 CFR 1.14(a)(2)(iv).
A requester seeking status information regarding an application should check Patent Center or Private Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) on the USPTO website at www.uspto.gov. Alternatively, an authorized requester may contact the Application Assistance Unit (AAU) for applications in pre-examination or post-examination processing via email at HelpAAU@uspto.gov; phone at 571-272-4000 or toll free at 888-786-0101 (Hours: Weekdays, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET); or at www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/ support-centers/application-assistance-unit-aau (see MPEP § 1730). If the application has not been published, but is pending or abandoned then the AAU will determine whether the requester is:
- (1) the applicant;
- (2) a patent practitioner of record;
- (3) the assignee or an assignee of an undivided part interest;
- (4) the inventor or a joint inventor; or
- (5) a registered attorney or agent named in the papers accompanying the application papers filed under 37 CFR 1.53 or the national stage documents filed under 37 CFR 1.495, if a power of attorney has not been appointed under 37 CFR 1.32.
If the requester is any of (1) - (5) as set forth above, or if the application contains written authority granting access to the requester signed by any of (1) - (5) as set forth above, then the requester is entitled to status information. See 37 CFR 1.14(c) and MPEP § 104 for additional information pertaining to who can provide written authority granting access to such information. If the requester is inquiring about whether a reply was received or when an Office action can be expected, the requester should be directed to call the Technology Center (TC) to which the application is assigned. The assignment of an application to a TC can be determined from Patent Data Portal. If the requester is not any of (1) - (5) or a person with written authority from any of (1) - (5) as set forth above, the requester may utilize Patent Center to obtain status information.
Furthermore, if the requester is not any of (1) - (5) or a person with written authority from any of (1) - (5) as set forth above, but the application is a national stage application or any application claiming the benefit of the filing date of a published international application and the United States of America has been indicated as a Designated State in the international application, pursuant to 37 CFR 1.14(a)(2)(iv), the requester is entitled to status information for the national stage application as well as any application claiming the benefit of the filing date of the published international application. A copy of the first page of the published international application or of the corresponding page of the PCT Gazette must be supplied with the status request. The status request should be made in writing to the International Patent Legal Administration (see MPEP § 1730). Alternatively, inquiries relating to applications claiming the benefit of the filing date of a published international application may be directed to the PCT Help desk. Only the serial number and filing date, or application number, as well as whether the application is pending, abandoned, or patented may be given for the national stage application and for any applications claiming the benefit of the filing date of the referenced published international application. Other information contained on the continuity data screen, such as whether the application is a CIP, continuation or divisional application, the date of abandonment of the application and issue date may be confidential information and should not be communicated.
If the requester is not any of (1) - (5) or a person with written authority from any of (1) - (5) as set forth above, but the application is an international design application maintained by the Office in its capacity as a designated office (37 CFR 1.1003) for national processing, pursuant to 37 CFR 1.14(a)(2)(iv), the requester is entitled to status information for the international design application as well as any application claiming the benefit of the filing date of the published international design application. With respect to an international design application maintained by the Office in its capacity as an office of indirect filing (37 CFR 1.1002), status information may be made available where contained in the file of the international design application maintained by the Office for national processing.
STATUS LOCATION INFORMATION FOR OFFICE PERSONNELWhen it is desired to determine the current location or status of an application, Office personnel should use Patent Data Portal. If the application is an Image File Wrapper (IFW) application, no location is associated with the file.
