Go to MPEP - Table of Contents
Notice regarding Section 508 of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998. Section 508 of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 requires all United States Federal Agencies with websites to make them accessible to individuals with disabilities. At this time, the MPEP [HTML] files below do not meet all standards for web accessibility. Until changes can be made to make them fully accessible to individuals with disabilities, the USPTO is providing access assistance via telephone. MPEP Interim Accessibility Contact: 703-305-8813.
706.02(k) Provisional Rejection (Obviousness) Under 35 U.S.C. 102(e)/103 [R-2] - 700 Examination of Applications
706.02(k) Provisional Rejection (Obviousness) Under 35 U.S.C. 102(e)/103 [R-2]
Effective November 29, 1999, subject matter which was prior art under former 35 U.S.C. 103 via 35 U.S.C. 102(e) is now disqualified as prior art against the claimed invention if that subject matter and the claimed invention "were, at the time the invention was made, owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person." This change to 35 U.S.C. 103(c) applies to all utility, design and plant patent applications filed on or after November 29, 1999, including continuing applications filed under 37 CFR 1.53(b), continued prosecution applications filed under 37 CFR 1.53(d), and reissues. The amendment to 35 U.S.C. 103(c) does not affect any application filed before November 29, 1999, a request for examination under 37 CFR 1.129 of such an application, nor a request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114 of such an application. The changes to 35 U.S.C. 102(e) in the Intellectual Property and High Technology Technical Amendments Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-273, 116 Stat. 1758 (2002)) did not affect the exclusion under 35 U.S.C. 103(c) as amended on November 29, 1999. See MPEP § 706.02(l)(1) for additional information regarding disqualified prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(e)/ 103.
Where two applications of different inventive entities are copending, not published under 35 U.S.C. 122(b), and the filing dates differ, a provisional rejection under 35 U.S.C. 102(e)/103 should be made in the later filed application if the applications have a common assignee or a common inventor, unless the later application was filed on or after November 29, 1999 and the applications were commonly owned or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person at the time the later invention was made. See MPEP § 706.02(l)(3) for examination procedure with respect to 35 U.S.C. 103(c). See also MPEP § 706.02(f) for examination procedure in determining when provisional rejections are appropriate. Otherwise the confidential status of unpublished application, or any part thereof, under 35 U.S.C. 122 must be maintained. Such a rejection alerts the applicant that he or she can expect an actual rejection on the same ground if one of the applications issues and also lets applicant know that action must be taken to avoid the rejection.
This gives applicant the opportunity to analyze the propriety of the rejection and possibly avoid the loss of rights to desired subject matter. Provisional rejections of the obviousness type under 35 U.S.C. 102(e)/103 are rejections applied to copending applications having different effective filing dates wherein each application has a common assignee or a common inventor. The earlier filed application, if patented >or published<, would constitute prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(e). The rejection can be overcome by:
(A) Arguing patentability over the earlier filed application;
(B) Combining the subject matter of the copending applications into a single application claiming benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120 of the prior applications and abandoning the copending applications (Note that a claim in a subsequently filed application that relies on a combination of prior applications may not be entitled to the benefit of an earlier filing date under 35 U.S.C. 120 since 35 U.S.C. 120 requires that the earlier filed application contain a disclosure which complies with 35 U.S.C. 112, first paragraph for each claim in the subsequently filed application. Studiengesellschaft Kohle m.b.H. v. Shell Oil Co., 112 F.3d 1561, 42 USPQ2d 1674 (Fed. Cir. 1997).);
(C) Filing an affidavit or declaration under 37 CFR 1.132 showing that any unclaimed invention disclosed in the copending application was derived from the inventor of the other application and is thus not invention "by another" (see MPEP § 715.01(a), § 715.01(c), and § 716.10);
(D) Filing an affidavit or declaration under 37 CFR 1.131 showing a date of invention prior to the effective U.S. filing date of the copending application. See MPEP § 715; or
(E) For an application filed on or after November 29, 1999, showing that the prior art and the claimed invention were, at the time the invention was made, owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person.
Where the applications are claiming the same patentable invention, a terminal disclaimer and an affidavit or declaration under 37 CFR 1.130 may be used to overcome a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 in a common ownership situation if the earlier filed application has been published or matured into a patent. See MPEP § 718.
If a provisional rejection is made and the copending applications are combined into a single application and the resulting single application is subject to a restriction requirement, the divisional application would not be subject to a provisional or actual rejection under 35 U.S.C. 102(e)/103 since the provisions of 35 U.S.C. 121 preclude the use of a patent issuing therefrom as a reference against the other application. Additionally, the resulting continuation-in-part is entitled to 35 U.S.C. 120 benefit of each of the prior applications. This is illustrated in Example 2, below.
The following examples are instructive as to the application of 35 U.S.C. 102(e)/103 in applications filed prior to November 29, 1999:
Example 1. Assumption: Employees A and B work for C, each with knowledge of the other's work, and with obligation to assign inventions to C while employed.
In situation (2.) above, the result is a provisional rejection by the examiner under 35 U.S.C. 102(e)/103. The rejection is provisional since the subject matter and the prior art are pending applications.
Example 2. Assumption: Employees A and B work for C, each with knowledge of the other's work, and with obligation to assign inventions to C while employed.
The following examples are instructive as to rejections under 35 U.S.C. 102(e)/ 103 in applications filed on or after November 29, 1999:
Example 3. Assumption: Employees A and B work for C, each with knowledge of the other's work, and with obligation to assign inventions to C while employed. Employee A' s application, filed on or after November 29, 1999, is being examined.
In situation (2.) above, the result is a provisional rejection by the examiner under 35 U.S.C. 102(e)/ 103. The rejection is provisional since the subject matter and the prior art are pending applications.
Example 4. Assumption: Employees A and B work for C, each with knowledge of the other's work, and with obligation to assign inventions to C while employed. Employee B' s application, filed on or after November 29, 1999, is being examined.
EXAMINATION OF CONTINUING APPLICATION COMMONLY OWNED WITH ABANDONED PARENT APPLICATION TO WHICH BENEFIT IS CLAIMED UNDER 35 U.S.C. 120
An application claiming the benefit of a prior filed copending national or international application under 35 U.S.C. 120 must name as an inventor at least one inventor named in the prior filed application. The prior filed application must also disclose the named inventor's invention claimed in at least one claim of the later filed application in the manner provided by the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112. This practice contrasts with the practice in effect prior to November 8, 1984 (the date of enactment of Public Law 98-622) where the inventorship entity in each of the applications was required to be the same for benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120.
So long as the applications have at least one inventor in common and the other requirements are met, the Office will permit a claim for 35 U.S.C. 120 benefit without any additional submissions or notifications from applicants regarding inventorship differences.
In addition to the normal examination conducted by the examiner, he or she must examine the earlier filed application to determine if the earlier and later applications have at least one inventor in common and that the other 35 U.S.C. 120 requirements are met. The claim for 35 U.S.C. 120 benefit will be permitted without examination of the earlier application for disclosure and support of at least one claim of the later filed application under 35 U.S.C. 112, first paragraph unless it becomes necessary to do so, for example, because of an intervening reference.
Go to MPEP - Table of Contents