Chapter 1100: Statutory Invention Registration (SIR) and Pre-Grant Publication (PG Pub)
Statutory invention registration (SIR) provided inventors with a means for placing their invention in the public domain and allowing members of the public access to it. Only requests for a statutory invention registration filed prior to March 16, 2013 are timely. The SIR only served as a printed notice of the disclosed invention. SIR’s were printed in the Official Gazette. Therefore, an SIR becomes a prior art reference after its publication date, barring anyone else from ever gaining a patent on that particular invention.
All applications are scheduled for publication 18 months after their filing date. This chapter covers publication, nonpublication and redacted publication procedures.
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Only requests for a statutory invention registration filed prior to March 16, 2013 are timely.
The waiver of patent rights to the subject matter claimed in a statutory invention registration takes effect on publication pre-AIA 37 CFR 1.293(c)) and may affect the patentability of claims in related applications without SIR requests, such as divisional or other continuing applications.
This section covers details on the publication of patent applications after the expiration of a period of eighteen months from the earliest filing date for which a benefit is sought. General details, exceptions, requirements, and projected publication dates are all discussed.
A patent application publication includes a front page containing information similar to that contained on the front page of a patent, the drawings (if any), and the specification (including claims). This section further discusses the content of a patent application publication. Covered topics include amendments (along with preliminary amendments), appendices, and applicant/assignee information.
This section covers requests for nonpublication including the requirements for filing a nonpublication request. For instance, a nonpublication request must be filed upon the filing of the application. This section also discusses inappropriate nonpublication requests.
An applicant may rescind a previously-filed nonpublication request at any time. This section outlines how an applicant may rescind nonpublication requests. For instance, applicants are strongly encouraged to provide a notice of foreign filing whenever rescinding a nonpublication request in anticipation of filing a counterpart application in an eighteen-month publication country.
This section covers the filing of a notice of foreign filing. The notice of foreign filing must be filed not later than 45 days after the filing date of the counterpart application or the application will become abandoned.
Applicants seeking to abandon an application to avoid publication of the application are urged to do so by filing a petition under 37 CFR 1.138(c) and submitting a declaration of express abandonment and the fee in sufficient time to permit the appropriate officials to recognize the abandonment and remove the application from the publication process.
Any applicant seeking to abandon the application for the purpose of avoiding publication must take appropriate action well prior to the projected publication date.
This section covers publication fees. The publication fee must be paid in each application published (or scheduled to be published) before a patent will be granted on the application.
Patent applications are preserved in confidence unless they have been published. This section discusses the availability of published applications. It covers electronic access, copies, physical access, and status information of published applications.
Applications that will be published under 37 C.F.R. 1.211 may be published earlier at the request of the applicant. Any request for early publication must be accompanied by the publication fee. If an applicant wishes to have an application published earlier than the date that is eighteen months after the earliest filing date for which benefit is claimed, applicant may submit a request in compliance and the publication fee.
This section covers the republication and correction of patent application publications. If an applicant wishes to correct errors in a patent application publication, or republish the application with an amended specification (including amended claims) and/or replacement drawings, applicant may file a request for republication. Further details are covered on what the request for republication must include.
In addition, this section covers material and non-material mistakes made by the Office and the process for correcting them.
If an application filed in the USPTO and subject to publication includes description that is more extensive than any previously filed corresponding foreign applications, applicant may request for redacted publication, eliminating any part or description of the invention that is not also contained in any of the corresponding applications filed in a foreign country. This section further discusses requests for redacted publications.
Certain applications like utility and plant applications filed before November 29, 2000 will not be published. This section covers the voluntary publication of a patent application publication.
This section covers third party inquiries and correspondence in a published application. It references, 35 U.S.C. 122 which includes two provisions regarding submissions by third parties in patent applications.
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