103 Right of Public to Inspect Patent Files and Some Application Files
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(a) The specification, drawings, and all papers relating to the file of: A published application; a patent; or a statutory invention registration are open to inspection by the public, and copies may be obtained upon the payment of the fee set forth in § 1.19(b)(2) . If an application was published in redacted form pursuant to § 1.217 , the complete file wrapper and contents of the patent application will not be available if: The requirements of paragraphs (d)(1), (d)(2), and (d)(3) of § 1.217 have been met in the application; and the application is still pending. See § 2.27 of this title for trademark files.
(b) All reissue applications, all applications in which the Office has accepted a request to open the complete application to inspection by the public, and related papers in the application file, are open to inspection by the public, and copies may be furnished upon paying the fee therefor. The filing of reissue applications, other than continued prosecution applications under § 1.53(d) of reissue applications, will be announced in the Official Gazette. The announcement shall include at least the filing date, reissue application and original patent numbers, title, class and subclass, name of the inventor, name of the owner of record, name of the attorney or agent of record, and examining group to which the reissue application is assigned.
(c) All requests for reexamination for which all the requirements of § 1.510 or § 1.915 have been satisfied will be announced in the Official Gazette. Any reexaminations at the initiative of the Director pursuant to § 1.520 will also be announced in the Official Gazette . The announcement shall include at least the date of the request, if any, the reexamination request control number or the Director initiated order control number, patent number, title, class and subclass, name of the inventor, name of the patent owner of record, and the examining group to which the reexamination is assigned.
(d) All papers or copies thereof relating to a reexamination proceeding which have been entered of record in the patent or reexamination file are open to inspection by the general public, and copies may be furnished upon paying the fee therefor.
(e) Except as prohibited in § 41.6(b) , § 42.14 or § 42.410(b) , the file of any interference or trial before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board is open to public inspection and copies of the file may be obtained upon payment of the fee therefor.
I. ACCESS TO IMAGE FILE WRAPPER (IFW) APPLICATIONS
For patent applications in the IFW system, the IFW file is the Official file and no access is granted to the original paper document sheets used to create the IFW file.
All patent applications filed after June 30, 2003, are available in public PAIR upon publishing or patenting.
II. PUBLISHED APPLICATIONS
If a patent application has been published, then a copy of the specification, drawings, and all papers relating to the file of that published application (whether abandoned or pending) may be provided to any person upon written request and payment of the appropriate fee
The publication by the International Bureau of an international application designating the United States is deemed to be a publication under 35 U.S.C. 122(b)
- Note that the U.S. is automatically designated in all international applications filed on or after January 1, 2004.
If a redacted copy of the application was used for the patent application publication, the copy of the application will be limited to the redacted copy of the application and the redacted materials.
Published applications maintained in the IFW system are available on the USPTO Web site in the public Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system.
- If the published patent application is pending and it is not maintained in the IFW system, the paper application file itself will not be available to the public for inspection.
- Only copies of the application file may be obtained.
- If the published patent application is abandoned, the entire application is available to the public for inspection and obtaining copies.
The publication by the International Bureau of an international design application designating the United States under the Hague Agreement is deemed to be a publication under 35 U.S.C. 122(b).
III. UNPUBLISHED ABANDONED AND PENDING APPLICATIONS (INCLUDING PROVISIONAL APPLICATIONS) THAT ARE IDENTIFIED
Abandoned applications and any application that is open to the public under 37 CFR 1.11 may be obtained by any person upon written request to the File Information Unit (FIU) without the specific written authority of the inventor, applicant in an application filed on or after September 16, 2012, assignee, attorney or agent of record or Director.
The following abandoned applications are available from the FIU:
- An abandoned application referred to in a U.S. patent application publication or U.S. patent; and
- A pending File Wrapper Continuation application (FWC) of an abandoned application.
Under former 37 CFR 1.62(f), where access is permitted to an application within the file wrapper of a FWC application, the applicant has waived the right to keep all earlier filed applications in the same file wrapper in confidence.
If an abandoned application is referred to in an international application that is published, access to the abandoned application is available.
The incorporation by reference of a pending application in a U.S. patent application publication, a U.S. patent, a published international application published, or a statutory invention registration constitutes a special circumstance under 35 U.S.C. 122 warranting that a copy of the application-as-filed be provided upon written request.
In addition, if a U.S. patent application publication, a U.S. patent, or a published international application claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(e), 120, 121, or 365 to a U.S. patent application, a copy of that application-as-filed may be provided upon written request, or available through the public PAIR system if the application is maintained in the IFW system.
If an abandoned application is identified in a publication of an international registration under the Hague Agreement, access to the abandoned application is available.
If a publication of an international registration under the Hague Agreement claims the benefit of, or incorporates by reference, an unpublished pending application, a copy of the application may be provided.
IV. ACCESS WHERE PART OF AN APPLICATION IS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE IN A U.S. PATENT APPLICATION PUBLICATION OR A U.S. PATENT
A member of the public, without a petition for access, may obtain a copy of a pending application as originally filed, when the application is incorporated by reference in a U.S. patent application publication or a U.S. patent, upon the filing of an appropriate request and the payment of the required fee.
- If only part of the application is incorporated by reference, for example, where an application states, “the disclosure of a valve on page 5, lines 5-35, of application No. XX/YYY,YYY, is hereby incorporated by reference,” then a petition for access is required to obtain access to or a copy of the incorporated material.
V. PETITION FOR ACCESS BY THIRD PARTY
Any interested party may file a petition, accompanied by the petition fee, to the Director for access to an application.
- The petition may be filed either with proof of service of copy upon the inventor, applicant in an application filed on or after September 16, 2012, assignee of record, or attorney or agent of record in the application to which access is sought
- Alternately, the petition may be filed in duplicate, in which case the duplicate copy will be sent by the Office to the inventor, applicant in an application filed on or after September 16, 2012, assignee of record, or attorney or agent of record in the application (hereinafter “applicant”).
- A separate petition, with fee, must be filed for each application file to which access is desired.
VI. ACCESS WHERE PATENT CLAIMS 35 U.S.C. 119(e), 120, 121, or 365 BENEFIT
Whenever a patent relies on the filing date of an earlier but still pending application, the Office permits an applicant to obtain a copy of the prior application upon written request and payment of the appropriate fee.
VII. ACCESS TO PROVISIONAL APPLICATIONS
In provisional applications, access or certified copies will only be given to parties with written authority from a named inventor, the assignee of record, the attorney or agent of record, or, for an application filed on or after September 16, 2012, an applicant other than an inventor.
VIII. APPLICATION AT THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board handles all requests for access to, or copies of Office records directly related to, applications involved in interferences, derivation proceedings, or trials.
IX. DEFENSIVE PUBLICATIONS
The entire application file of a defensive publication is available to the public for inspection and obtaining copies.
X. REISSUE APPLICATIONS
Reissue applications are open to inspection by the general public.
XI. REQUEST FOR REEXAMINATION
An announcement of the filing of each request for reexamination in which the entire fee has been paid, and of each reexamination ordered at the initiative of the Director, will be published in the Official Gazette.
- A reexamination file is normally NOT open to inspection by the general public until the file has been scanned into the IFW system, at which point the file is open to inspection by the public by way of Public PAIR via the USPTO Internet site.
At a glance-
Common documents accessible to the public.
Accessible to the public |
Not accessible to the public |
• Published SIR’s |
• Pending, non-published patent applications |
• Issued patents not under secrecy order |
• Non-published international applications |
• Reissue applications |
• Non-published abandoned patents |
• Requests for reexamination (and all related |
• Provisional applications |
• Files of an interference proceeding once the |
