MPEP § 719.04 — Index of Claims (Annotated Rules)
§719.04 Index of Claims
This page consolidates and annotates all enforceable requirements under MPEP § 719.04, including statutory authority, regulatory rules, examiner guidance, and practice notes. It is provided as guidance, with links to the ground truth sources. This is information only, it is not legal advice.
Index of Claims
This section addresses Index of Claims. Contains: 1 guidance statement.
Key Rules
Access to Drawings
The "Index of Claims" found in the image file wrapper of an application is frequently referenced. It should be updated with each Office action to maintain a reliable index of all claims in the application.
Source Text from USPTO’s MPEP
This is an exact copy of the MPEP from the USPTO. It is here for your reference to see the section in context.
Official MPEP § 719.04 — Index of Claims
Source: USPTO719.04 Index of Claims [R-11.2013]
The “Index of Claims” found in the image file wrapper of an application is frequently referenced. It should be updated with each Office action to maintain a reliable index of all claims in the application.
The claim numbers appearing on the Index of Claims refer to the claim numbers during prosecution while the adjacent columns refer to the status of each of the claims and the final column refers to the final numbering of the allowed claims (if applicable).
A space is provided above each adjacent column for completion by the examiner to indicate the date of each Office action together with the resulting status of each claim. At the time of allowance, the examiner places the final patent claim numbers in the column marked “Final.”