What constitutes a failure to reply under 37 CFR 1.135(a)?

A failure to reply under 37 CFR 1.135(a) can occur in two ways:

• Failure to reply within the statutory period
• Insufficiency of reply, i.e., failure to file a “complete and proper reply, as the condition of the case may require” within the statutory period

As stated in the MPEP: “37 CFR 1.135(a) specifies that an application becomes abandoned if applicant “fails to reply” to an Office action within the fixed statutory period.“

To learn more:

• Patent abandonment
• Statutory period
• Office action response