Initial Patent Applications

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is required by Title 35 of the United States Code, including 35 U.S.C. 131, to examine applications for patents. The USPTO administers the patent statutes through various rules in Chapter 37 of the Code of Federal Regulations, such as, for example, 37 CFR 1.16 through 1.84. Each patent applicant must provide sufficient information to allow the USPTO to properly examine the application to determine whether it meets the criteria set forth in the patent statutes and regulations for issuance as a patent. The patent statues and regulations require that an application for patent include the following information: 1) a specification containing a description of the invention and at least one claim defining the property right sought by the applicant; 2) a drawing(s) or photograph(s), where necessary, for an understanding of the invention; 3) an oath or declaration signed by the applicant; and 4) a filing fee. The following types of patent applications are covered under the present information collection: • New original utility, plant, design, and provisional applications, • Continuation/divisional applications of international applications • Continued prosecution applications (design), and • Continuations/divisionals and continuation-in-part applications of utility, plant, and design applications. In addition, the present collection covers petitions to accept an unintentionally delayed priority or benefit claim under 37 CFR 1.47 to accept a filing by other than all of the inventors or a person not the inventor, petitions under 37 CFR 1.6(g) to accord an application under 37 CFR 1.495(b) a receipt date, and papers filed under 37 CFR 1.41(c), 1.41(a)(2) (pre-AIA), 1.49(d), 1.53(c)(2), and 1.53(c)(2) (pre-Patent Law Treat (PLT) (AIA)). Most applications for patent, including new utility, design, and provisional applications, can be submitted to the USPTO through EFS-Web. EFS-Web is the USPTO's system for electronically filing of patent correspondence and is accessible via the Internet on the USPTO web site. The Legal Framework for EFS-Web provides a listing of patent applications and documents permitted to be filed via EFS-Web and patent applications and documents not permitted to be filed via EFS-Web. There are 69 forms in this collection. This total includes versions of the inventor's oath and declaration forms that were created to comply with the changes resulting from the America Invents Act (AIA) as well as pre-AIA versions of the oath and declaration and foreign language translations of the oath and declaration forms. Items in this collection that do not have forms associated with them include the petitions and the papers filed under 37 CFR 1.41(c), 1.41(a)(2) (pre-AIA), 1.53(c)(2), and the 1.53(c)(2) (pre-PLT)(AIA)). This collection contains various types of patent applications, such as new original utility, plant, design, and provisional applications, continuation/divisional applications of international applications, continued prosecution applications (design), and continuations/divisionals and continuation-in-part applications of utility, plant, and design applications. In addition to the applications, this collection also includes various petitions and papers filed under 37 CFR 1.41, 1.48, and 1.53(c)(2). The applications, petitions, and additional papers are filed in paper as well as electronically. The USPTO expects that the primary audience for this collection will be businesses, for-profits, and nonprofits.

The latest form for Initial Patent Applications expires 2021-01-31 and can be found here.