How does an examiner notify an applicant that a CPA has been established?
When a Continued Prosecution Application (CPA) is established, the examiner notifies the applicant in the first Office action of the CPA. According to MPEP ¶ 2.30, the examiner uses a specific form paragraph:
“The request filed on [1] for a Continued Prosecution Application (CPA) under 37 CFR 1.53(d) based on parent Application No. [2] is acceptable and a CPA has been established. An action on the CPA follows.”
This notification is important because:
- Applicants are not separately notified of the abandonment of the parent application
- A filing receipt is not normally sent for a CPA
Therefore, this Office action serves as the official notification that the CPA has been properly established.
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Topics:
MPEP 200 - Types and Status of Application; Benefit and Priority,
MPEP 201 - Types of Applications,
Patent Law,
Patent Procedure