What is a redacted application publication in patent law?
A redacted application publication is a special type of patent application publication where certain information has been removed or obscured. MPEP 2154.01(d) mentions redacted publications in the context of provisional rejections:
“[A] provisional rejection under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) may be made, in the circumstances described below, if the earlier filed, pending application has been published as redacted (37 CFR 1.217) and the subject matter relied upon in the rejection is not supported in the redacted publication of the patent application.”
This means that even if an application is published in redacted form, it may still be used as a basis for a provisional rejection if the relied-upon subject matter is present in the full, non-redacted version. Redacted publications are governed by 37 CFR 1.217 and are typically used when an applicant wants to publish their application but protect certain sensitive information.
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