What are patentably indistinct claims in patent applications?
Patentably indistinct claims are claims in two or more applications filed by the same applicant or assignee that are substantially similar in scope and content. According to MPEP 822, “Where two or more applications filed by the same applicant or assignee contain patentably indistinct claims, elimination of such claims from all but one application may be required in the absence of good and sufficient reason for their retention during pendency in more than one application.”
This means that if an applicant or assignee files multiple applications with claims that are not significantly different, the USPTO may require the applicant to remove these similar claims from all but one application to avoid redundancy and streamline the examination process.
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