Can status information be provided for unpublished patent applications?

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.

In general, status information cannot be provided for unpublished patent applications, unless the requester is:

1. The applicant
2. A patent practitioner of record
3. The assignee or an assignee of an undivided part interest
4. The inventor or a joint inventor
5. A registered attorney or agent named in the application papers

Alternatively, a person with written authority from any of the above parties can be provided status information.

There are some exceptions where status information can be supplied for unpublished applications, such as:

• When the application is identified in a published patent document or another application publication
• When the application is a national stage application or claims benefit to a published international application and the US is a designated state
• When the application is an international design application maintained by the USPTO for national processing