Can a patent owner receive multiple notifications for omissions in their response?

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.

Generally, a patent owner will not receive multiple notifications for the same omission in their response. However, there are circumstances where multiple notifications may occur. According to MPEP 2666.30:

“Once an inadvertent omission is brought to the attention of the patent owner, the question of inadvertence no longer exists. Therefore, a second written notification action giving another new (one month) time period to supply the omission would not be appropriate.”

However, the MPEP also states:

“If the patent owner’s response to the notification of the omission raises a different issue of a different inadvertently omitted matter, a second written notification action may be given.”

This means that while a patent owner won’t receive multiple notifications for the same omission, they may receive additional notifications if new, different omissions are discovered in their subsequent responses.