102 Information as to Status of an Application
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Status information of an application means only the following information:
- whether the application is pending, abandoned, or patented;
- whether the application has been published;
- 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
- whether another application claims the benefit of the application
A requester seeking status information regarding an application should check the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system on the USPTO Web site or contact the File Information Unit (FIU)
- If the application has been published, the FIU will inform the requester of the publication number and publication date, and if the application has issued as a patent, the patent number, issue date and classification.
If the application has not been published, but is pending or abandoned then the FIU should determine whether the requester is:
- the applicant;
- a patent practitioner of record;
- the assignee or an assignee of an undivided part interest;
- the inventor or a joint inventor; or
- a registered attorney or agent named in the papers accompanying the application papers
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.
If the requester is not any of (1) - (5) or a person with written authority from any of (1) - (5) as set forth above, and the application is:
- identified by application number (or serial number and filing date) in a published patent document, or
- an application claiming the benefit of the filing date of an application identified by application number (or serial number and filing date) in a published patent document, then a written request including a copy of a published patent document (United States or foreign) which refers to the specific application must be provided when requesting status information for the application.
If the published patent document is not in English, then a translation of the pertinent part thereof must also be included.
If the application is referred to by application number or serial number and filing date in a published patent document (e.g., a U.S. patent, a statutory invention registration, a U.S. patent application publication, or an international application publication), or in a U.S. application open to public inspection, the requester is entitled to status information for the application.
- 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, 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.
International Design Applications
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 for national processing, 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, status information may be made available where contained in the file of the international design application maintained by the Office for national processing.
» 103 Right of public to inspect patent files and some application files
