46. Which of the following statements relevant to a third party submission in a published patent application accords with proper USPTO practice and procedure?
(A) A submission of patents by a member of the public must be made within 2 months of the date of publication of the application.
(B) A submission of patents by a member of the public must be made prior to the mailing of a Notice of Allowance.
(C) A submission of patents by a member of the public must be made within 2 months of the date of publication of the application or prior to the mailing of a Notice of Allowance, whichever is later.
(D) A submission of patents by a member of the public must be made within 2 months of the date of publication of the application or prior to the mailing of a Notice of Allowance, whichever is earlier.
(E) Any submission not filed within the period set forth in the patent rules will be accepted provided it is accompanied by the processing fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(i).
46. ANSWER: (D) is correct. 37 C.F.R. §1.99(e). (D) is correct because 37 C.F.R. § 1.99(e)
provides, “A submission under this section must be filed within two months from the date of
publication of the application (§ 1.215(a)) or prior to the mailing of a notice of allowance
(§ 1.311), whichever is earlier.” Therefore, answer (D) is correct and answers (A), (B), and (C)
are incorrect. (E) is wrong because 37 C.F.R. § 1.99(e) recites, “A submission by a member of
the public to a pending published application that does not comply with the requirements of this
section will be returned or discarded.”
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
What is a submission of patents?
See § 1.99 Third-party submission in published application.
(a) A submission by a member of the public of patents or publications relevant to a pending published application may be entered in the application file if the submission complies with the requirements of this section and the application is still pending when the submission and application file are brought before the examiner.
MPEP 1134.01 “Third Party Submissions Under 37 CFR 1.99 [R-5]” under heading “I. TIMELINESS REQUIREMENT”
“37 CFR 1.99(e) specifies that a submission under 37 CFR 1.99 must be filed within two months from the date of publication of the application (37 CFR 1.215(a)), or prior to the mailing of a notice of allowance (37 CFR 1.311), whichever is earlier. Republication of an application under 37 CFR 1.221 does not restart the two-month period specified in 37 CFR 1.99(e).”