313 Recording of Licenses, Security Interests, and Documents Other Than Assignments
MPEP SECTION SUMMARY
In addition to assignments and documents required to be recorded, upon request, assignments of applications, patents, and registrations, and other documents relating to interests in patent applications and patents will be recorded in the Office.
In addition to documents that constitute a transfer or change of title, other documents relating to interests in patents or applications will generally be recorded.
Documents not accepted for recording include attorney's liens against patents or patent applications.
315 Indexing Against a Recorded Certificate
MPEP SECTION SUMMARY
The Office does not process requests for “indexing” or “cross-referencing” additional patent numbers or application numbers against a document, other than an assignment, previously recorded in the Assignment Division.
317 Handling of Documents in the Assignment Division
MPEP SECTION SUMMARY
The recording of a document is not a determination by the Office of the validity of the document or the effect that document has on the title to an application or patent. When necessary, the Office will determine what effect a document has, including whether a party has the authority to take an action in a matter pending before the Office.
317.01 Recording Date
MPEP SECTION SUMMARY
The date of recording of a document is the date the document meeting the requirements for recording set forth in the regulations is filed in the Office.
317.02 Correction of Unrecorded Returned Documents and Cover Sheets
MPEP SECTION SUMMARY
Assignment documents and cover sheets, or copies of the same, which are returned by the Assignment Division will be stamped with the original date of receipt by the Office and will be accompanied by a letter which will indicate that if the returned papers are corrected and resubmitted to the Office within the time specified in the letter, the Office will consider the original date of receipt of the papers as the date of recording of the document.
317.03 Effect of Recording
MPEP SECTION SUMMARY
An assignment, which at the time of its execution is conditional on a given act or event, will be treated by the Office as an absolute assignment.Since the Office will not determine whether a condition has been fulfilled, the Office will treat the submission of such an assignment for recordation as signifying that the act or event has occurred.
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317.03
The recording of a document is not a determination by the Office of the validity of the document or the effect that document has on the title to an application or patent.
When necessary, the Office will determine what effect a document has, including whether a party has the authority to take an action in a matter pending before the Office.
If an assignment is not timely recorded at the USPTO, the unrecorded assignment will not be superior to the rights acquired by a third party, i.e. a bona fide purchaser, for valuable consideration if that third party did not have knowledge of the unrecorded assignment.
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