How are lengthy tables treated in patent documents and publications?
Lengthy tables (more than 200 consecutive pages or large numbers of tables) submitted as ASCII text files or in certain electronic formats may not be printed in full in patent documents. Instead:
- They will be published separately on the USPTO website
- A standardized statement will be inserted in the patent document
- For patent application publications, a page-wide text will indicate availability on the USPTO website
- For patents, a similar page-wide text will be included
As stated in MPEP 608.05(b): If tables on more than two hundred consecutive pages, or large numbers of tables (lengthy tables) are submitted on a read-only optical disc or as text files submitted via the USPTO patent electronic filing system as provided in 37 CFR 1.52(e) and 1.58(c), or in an electronic format (XML, tab-delimited text, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Work, Corel WordPerfect) in response to a “Request to Voluntarily Supply Lengthy Table(s) in Electronic Format” from the Office of Data Management, these lengthy tables will not be published as part of a patent document (e.g., patent or patent application publication. The lengthy tables will be published separately on the sequence homepage of the USPTO website (https://seqdata.uspto.gov).
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