MPEP § 714.04 — Claims Presented in Amendment With No Attempt To Point Out Patentable Novelty (Annotated Rules)

§714.04 Claims Presented in Amendment With No Attempt To Point Out Patentable Novelty

USPTO MPEP version: BlueIron's Update: 2025-12-31

This page consolidates and annotates all enforceable requirements under MPEP § 714.04, 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.

Claims Presented in Amendment With No Attempt To Point Out Patentable Novelty

This section addresses Claims Presented in Amendment With No Attempt To Point Out Patentable Novelty. Primary authority: 37 CFR 1.111. Contains: 2 guidance statements.

Key Rules

Topic

35 U.S.C. 102 – Novelty / Prior Art

1 rules
StatutoryRecommendedAlways
[mpep-714-04-44a4fd7584c968fb04a95743]
Claims Must Point Out Patentable Novelty
Note:
Amended claims must demonstrate patentable novelty; failure to do so results in claim disallowance.

In the consideration of claims in an amended case where no attempt is made to point out the patentable novelty, the claims should not be allowed. See 37 CFR 1.111 and MPEP § 714.02.

Jump to MPEP Source · 37 CFR 1.111Novelty / Prior Art
Topic

Intervening Rights After Reinstatement

1 rules
StatutoryRecommendedAlways
[mpep-714-04-fee90065fb219f44a9d740cd]
Amendment Must Point Out Novelty
Note:
An amendment must clearly state the patentable novelty of the claims in response to cited references or objections; otherwise, a time period is set for proper reply if the statutory period has expired or almost expired.

An amendment failing to point out the patentable novelty which the applicant believes the claims present in view of the state of the art disclosed by the references cited or the objections made may be held to be not fully responsive and a time period set to furnish a proper reply if the statutory period has expired or almost expired (MPEP § 714.03). However, if the claims as amended are clearly open to rejection on grounds of record, a final rejection should generally be made.

Jump to MPEP SourceIntervening Rights After ReinstatementLate Payment and ReinstatementStatutory Period Computation (37 CFR 1.134)

Citations

Primary topicCitation
35 U.S.C. 102 – Novelty / Prior Art37 CFR § 1.111
35 U.S.C. 102 – Novelty / Prior ArtMPEP § 714.02
Intervening Rights After ReinstatementMPEP § 714.03

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.

BlueIron Last Updated: 2025-12-31