How does a preliminary amendment affect the patent application publication?
Preliminary amendments can affect the patent application publication, but their inclusion is not guaranteed. The MPEP advises, Filing a preliminary amendment is not recommended because the changes made by the preliminary amendment may not be reflected in the patent application publication even if the preliminary amendment is referred to in an oath or declaration.
It further explains, If there is insufficient time to have the preliminary amendment be entered into the Office file wrapper of the application before technical preparations for publication of the application have begun, the preliminary amendment will not be reflected in the patent application publication.
Typically, technical preparations begin four months prior to the projected publication date. To ensure desired changes are included in the publication, applicants are encouraged to incorporate amendments into the original application text rather than filing them as preliminary amendments.
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