Manual of Patent Examining Procedure

BlueIron has annotated the USPTO's Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (the "MPEP") for your convenience. These annotations are "rules" drawn from the MPEP text, then classified, cross-linked, and cited against the authorities from which they derive. This is provided as guidance, with links to ground truth sources. This is for information only, it is not legal advice. Using this resource does not make you a client of BlueIron, Krajec Patent Offices, or Russ Krajec, and we urge you contact us or to find a competent patent attorney if you have questions.

Metric	Value
Rules extracted	37,655
Citations to Authorities	MPEP49,231 USC22,592 CFR45,853 PCT5,163
Avg citations per rule	3.26
Topics covered	1,147 primary + 1,287 secondary

Browse chapters and appendices. Each entry shows the number of extracted rules across pages in that chapter.

Chapters

Chapter 100 — Secrecy, Access, National Security, and Foreign Filing (546 rules)
Chapter 200 — Types, Cross-Noting, and Status of Application (1412 rules)
Chapter 300 — Ownership and Assignment (528 rules)
Chapter 400 — Representative of Applicant or Owner (629 rules)
Chapter 500 — Receipt and Handling of Mail and Papers (1777 rules)
Chapter 600 — Parts, Form, and Content of Application (3231 rules)
Chapter 700 — Examination of Applications (3736 rules)
Chapter 800 — Restriction in Applications Filed Under 35 U.S.C. 111; Double Patenting (1522 rules)
Chapter 900 — Prior Art, Classification, and Search (678 rules)
Chapter 1000 — Matters Decided by Various U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Officials (343 rules)
Chapter 1100 — Statutory Invention Registration (SIR); Pre-Grant Publication (PGPub) and Preissuance Submissions (647 rules)
Chapter 1200 — Appeal (1215 rules)
Chapter 1300 — Allowance and Issue (414 rules)
Chapter 1400 — Correction of Patents (2014 rules)
Chapter 1500 — Design Patents (913 rules)
Chapter 1600 — Plant Patents (123 rules)
Chapter 1700 — Miscellaneous (135 rules)
Chapter 1800 — Patent Cooperation Treaty (2485 rules)
Chapter 1900 — Protest (201 rules)
Chapter 2000 — Duty of Disclosure (333 rules)
Chapter 2100 — Patentability (7437 rules)
Chapter 2200 — Citation of Prior Art and Ex Parte Reexamination of Patents (2268 rules)
Chapter 2300 — Interference and Derivation Proceedings (552 rules)
Chapter 2400 — Biotechnology (1384 rules)
Chapter 2500 — Maintenance Fees (326 rules)
Chapter 2600 — Optional Inter Partes Reexamination (222 rules)
Chapter 2700 — Patent Terms, Adjustments, and Extensions (1062 rules)
Chapter 2800 — Supplemental Examination (699 rules)
Chapter 2900 — International Design Applications (823 rules)

Appendices

Appendix L – Patent Laws (1334 rules)
Appendix R – Patent Rules (32123 rules)
Appendix T – Patent Cooperation Treaty (0 rules)
Appendix AI – PCT Administrative Instructions (0 rules)