How does indexing affect the public accessibility of a document for patent purposes?

Indexing plays a crucial role in determining the public accessibility of a document for patent purposes. MPEP 2128.01 emphasizes the importance of indexing:

“A document may be considered publicly accessible if it is indexed or cataloged and available in a library or other public collection.”

Proper indexing makes a document discoverable by those interested in the subject matter. For example:

• A thesis properly indexed in a university library catalog
• A technical report with a searchable entry in a database
• A paper listed in a conference proceedings index

These could all be considered publicly accessible due to their indexing, even if they have limited distribution. The key is that indexing allows interested parties to locate the document through reasonable effort.

To learn more:

• indexing
• public accessibility
• patent examination
• prior art