Pursuant to 35 U. Under 35 U. Such submissions must be timely made in writing and include a concise description of the asserted relevance of each publication submitted, any fee prescribed by the Director, and a statement of compliance with 35 U. Third-party submissions under 37 CFR 1. In contrast to protests under 37 CFR 1.
Additionally, third-party submissions have different content requirements than protests. For example, 37 CFR 1. Moreover, 37 CFR 1. This is distinct from the concise description of relevance required by 37 CFR 1. Despite the provisions of 35 U. For example, third parties have inquired into the timing of future actions on an application, inventorship in an application, and some third parties have insisted that the Office withdraw an application from issue under 37 CFR 1.
The Office considers inappropriate any third-party inquiry or submission in an application that is not provided for in 37 CFR 1. Any submission filed by a third party in an application that does not comply with the requirements of 37 CFR 1. Office personnel including the Patent Examining Corps are instructed to: 1 not reply to or act upon any third-party inquiry or other submission in an application, except those in compliance with 37 CFR 1.
Office April 22, The Office may also refer third-party inquiries, or submissions not provided for in 37 CFR 1. The provisions of 35 U.
See Blacklight Power, Inc. Rogan, F. While there is no limit on the number of submissions that one third party may make in an application, a third-party submission must be filed prior to the earlier of:. Thus, a third-party submission cannot be filed in an application where a notice of allowance has been issued in the application, regardless of whether that notice of allowance is subsequently withdrawn.
