Comments on: Q) Public Inspection (10.02.21a)

By: RBL 5/12/12

RBL 5/12/12 — Tue, 08 May 2012 02:33:13 +0000

Exactly. “(B) Assignment document”, in singular form (cf., documents) can only refer to one document.

By: Number_27

Number_27 — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 20:15:37 +0000

Answer D was my choice but I struggled with it because it is unclear whether both the pending patent application and abandoned patent application had not been published, or just the latter.

Badly worded answer.

By: admin

admin — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 15:32:51 +0000

Here’s my take on this:
Answer (B) talks about a single assignment document.

As “S” comments about MPEP 301.01, above “..The Office will not open only certain parts of an assignment document to public inspection. If such a document contains two or more items, any one of which, if alone, would be open to such inspection, then the entire document will be open.”

The assignment document in answer (B) relates to an issued patent, therefore, the assignment document IS OPEN to public inspection in it’s entirety.

So (B) is an incorrect answer choice since the question is looking for a document that is NOT open to public inspection.

By: patentbar

patentbar — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 15:21:30 +0000

When I went for my exam review at the PTO I found that I had missed several of these types of questions. (You can read about exam reviews at usptoExam.com under the resources tab) Some example question types are:

…which is proper?

…which is a proper rejection?

…which is not a proper rejection?

The double & triple negatives can get very confusing but practicing the old questions will solve this.

By: S

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 15:03:04 +0000

You are right, MPB!!!

I missed the “not” part of the question.

Thanks

By: mypatentbar

mypatentbar — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 14:45:44 +0000

Here’s my take on this:
Answer (B) talks about a single assignment document.

The assignment document in answer (B) relates to an issued patent, therefore, the assignment document IS OPEN to public inspection in it’s entirety.

So (B) is an incorrect answer choice since the question is looking for a document that is NOT open to public inspection.

By: S

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 13:58:37 +0000

I have to agree with the above comments. Hope someone will explain:

301.01 explicitly states that

Records related to assignments of patents, and patent applications that have been published as Patent application publications are available on the USPTO Internet website.
The Office will not open only certain parts of an assignment document to public inspection. If such a document contains two or more items, any one of which, if alone, would be open to such inspection, then the entire document will be open.

For choice B, if patent issued and the patent application not published under 35 USC 122(b) are related, then assignment is open to public.
But if they are not related, then the second part of the choice will not be open to public, while the issued patent will be open.

Can someone pl explain this?
Thank you,

By: squirrel

squirrel — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:56:29 +0000

I agree with you. I am confused by the answer B. Who can explain this? Thanks!

By: triedandtested

triedandtested — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 22:59:23 +0000

I meant the above for option (B)

By: triedandtested

triedandtested — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 22:58:58 +0000

This is ambiguous. Are the issued patent and patent application not published both related to each other, or refer to each other? If yes, then the assignment record is available. But the question does not say so.