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.”
