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818 Election and Reply - 800 Restriction in Applications Filed Under 35 U.S.C. 111; Double Patenting
818 Election and Reply
Election is the designation of the particular one of two or more disclosed inventions that will be prosecuted in the application.
A reply should be made to each point raised by the examiner's action, and may include a traverse or compliance.
A traverse of a requirement to restrict is a statement of the reasons upon which the applicant relies for his or her conclusion that the requirement is in error.
To be complete, a reply to a requirement which merely specifies the linking claims need only include a proper election.
Where a rejection or objection is included with a restriction requirement, applicant, besides making a proper election must also distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the examiner's rejection or objection. See 37 CFR 1.111.
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