1895 A Continuation, Divisional, or Continuation-In-Part Application of a PCT Application Designating the United States
MPEP SECTION SUMMARY
It is possible to file a U.S. national application under 35 U.S.C. 111(a) during the pendency (prior to the abandonment) of an international application which designates the United States without completing the requirements for entering the national stage.
Continuation-in-part applications are generally filed in instances where applicants seek to add matter to the disclosure which is not supported by the disclosure of the international application as originally filed, as new matter may not be added to a U.S. national stage application.
1895.01 Handling of and Considerations in the Handling of Continuations, Divisions, and Continuations-In-Part of PCT Applications
MPEP SECTION SUMMARY
A regular national application filed under 35 U.S.C. 111(a) and 37 CFR 1.53(b) may claim benefit of the filing date of an international application which designates the United States. Thus, rather than submitting a national stage application under 35 U.S.C. 371, applicant may file a continuation, divisional, or continuation-in-part of the international (PCT) application under 35 U.S.C. 111(a). Such applications are often referred to as “bypass” applications. Further details on "bypass" applications are presented in this section.
To obtain benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120 and 365(c) of a prior international application designating the U.S., the continuing application must:
(A) include a specific reference to the prior international application
(B) be copending with the prior international application, and
(C) have at least one inventor in common with the prior international application.
PRIORITY CLAIMS UNDER 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d)
A claim for foreign priority must be made in the continuing application in order to obtain the benefit of the filing date of the prior filed foreign application.
A foreign priority claim is proper in the continuing application if the continuing application or the parent international application was filed not later than 12 months after the filing date of the foreign application.
