How are continued citations captured on the PTO-892 form?

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.

When a citation is continued across multiple boxes on the PTO-892 form, it is captured as a single citation. The MPEP 707.05(f) states: “Such citation will be captured as one citation, and any explanatory wording (such as ‘[item U continued]’ in the mockup below) will not be captured.”

This means that:

• The entire citation, even if split across multiple boxes, is treated as one continuous reference.
• Any explanatory text used to indicate continuation (e.g., ‘[item U continued]’) is not included in the final captured citation.

Examiners should ensure that the citation flows correctly across boxes for proper capture and subsequent retrieval.