What are the options for submitting an inventor’s oath or declaration in a continuing application?

This page is an FAQ based on guidance from the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure. It is provided as guidance, with links to the ground truth sources. This is information only: it is not legal advice.

For continuing applications that claim the benefit of an earlier-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c), inventors have several options for submitting the required oath or declaration. According to 37 CFR 1.63(d):

A newly executed oath or declaration under § 1.63, or substitute statement under § 1.64, is not required under §§ 1.51(b)(2) and 1.53(f), or under §§ 1.497 and 1.1021(d), for an inventor in a continuing application that claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) in compliance with § 1.78 of an earlier-filed application, provided that an oath or declaration in compliance with this section, or substitute statement under § 1.64, was executed by or with respect to such inventor and was filed in the earlier-filed application, and a copy of such oath, declaration, or substitute statement showing the signature or an indication thereon that it was executed, is submitted in the continuing application.

This means that for a continuing application:

• A new oath or declaration is not required if a compliant oath, declaration, or substitute statement was filed in the earlier application
• A copy of the previously filed oath, declaration, or substitute statement can be submitted in the continuing application
• The copy must show the signature or an indication that it was executed

However, any new joint inventor named in the continuing application must provide a new oath or declaration.