MPEP 900 – Prior Art, Classification, and Search

This page consolidates and annotates enforceable requirements under MPEP 900 — Prior Art, Classification, and Search, 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.

Metric	Value	Share of total
Rules extracted	678	1.8%
Citations to Authorities	MPEP888 USC232 CFR46 PCT83	1.0%
Avg citations per rule	1.84
Topics covered	90 primary + 154 secondary	10.0%

Pages in this chapter

Page
MPEP § 901 — Prior Art1 rules
MPEP § 901.01 — Canceled Matter in U.S. Patent Files3 rules
MPEP § 901.01(a) — Ordering of Patented and Abandoned Provisional and Nonprovisional Application Files5 rules
MPEP § 901.02 — Abandoned Applications8 rules
MPEP § 901.03 — Pending Applications12 rules
MPEP § 901.04 — U.S. Patents44 rules
MPEP § 901.04(a) — Kind Codes3 rules
MPEP § 901.05 — Foreign Patent Documents89 rules
MPEP § 901.05(a) — Citation Data0 rules
MPEP § 901.05(b) — Other Significant Data56 rules
MPEP § 901.05(c) — Obtaining Copies12 rules
MPEP § 901.05(d) — Translation12 rules
MPEP § 901.06 — Nonpatent Publications3 rules
MPEP § 901.06(a) — Scientific and Technical Information Center (STIC)58 rules
MPEP § 901.06(b) — Borrowed Publications1 rules
MPEP § 901.06(c) — Alien Property Custodian Publications2 rules
MPEP § 901.06(d) — Abstracts, Abbreviatures, and Defensive Publications6 rules
MPEP § 901.07 — Patent Family Information8 rules
MPEP § 901.08 — Global Dossier Public Access0 rules
MPEP § 902 — Search Tools and Classification Information0 rules
MPEP § 902.01 — Classification Manual for the U.S. Patent Classification System11 rules
MPEP § 902.01(a) — Index to the U.S. Patent Classification System5 rules
MPEP § 902.02 — Class and Subclass Definitions in USPC4 rules
MPEP § 902.02(a) — Definition Notes in USPC0 rules
MPEP § 902.03 — Classification Information0 rules
MPEP § 902.03(a) — Patent Classification Home Page on the Internet0 rules
MPEP § 902.03(b) — Patent Classification Home Page on the USPTO Intranet0 rules
MPEP § 902.03(e) — Automated Search Tools: PE2E SEARCH4 rules
MPEP § 903 — Classification in USPC2 rules
MPEP § 903.01 — Statutory Authority1 rules
MPEP § 903.02 — Basis and Principles of Classification in USPC2 rules
MPEP § 903.02(b) — Scope of a Class in the USPC10 rules
MPEP § 903.03 — Availability of Foreign Patents3 rules
MPEP § 903.04 — Classifying Applications for Publication as a Plant Patent Application Publication in USPC13 rules
MPEP § 903.05 — Addition, Deletion, or Transfer of U.S. Design Patents by USPC Classification4 rules
MPEP § 903.06 — Harmonized Subclasses0 rules
MPEP § 903.07 — Classifying and Cross-Referencing Design and Plant Applications at Allowance21 rules
MPEP § 903.07(a) — Cross-Referencing Design and Plant Applications — Keep Systematic Notes During Prosecution4 rules
MPEP § 904 — How to Search16 rules
MPEP § 904.01 — Analysis of Claims3 rules
MPEP § 904.01(a) — Variant Embodiments Within Scope of Claim4 rules
MPEP § 904.01(b) — Equivalents1 rules
MPEP § 904.01(c) — Analogous Arts3 rules
MPEP § 904.02 — General Search Guidelines29 rules
MPEP § 904.02(a) — Classified Search7 rules
MPEP § 904.02(b) — Search Tool Selection1 rules
MPEP § 904.02(c) — Internet Searching17 rules
MPEP § 904.03 — Conducting the Search12 rules
MPEP § 904.04 — Search of Related Post-Grant Proceedings5 rules
MPEP § 905 — Cooperative Patent Classification0 rules
MPEP § 905.01 — Classification Scheme for CPC5 rules
MPEP § 905.01(a) — CPC Titles3 rules
MPEP § 905.02 — CPC Definitions23 rules
MPEP § 905.03 — Classifying in CPC3 rules
MPEP § 905.03(a) — The CPC Database21 rules
MPEP § 905.03(b) — Approach to classification in CPC37 rules
MPEP § 905.03(c) — Combination Sets2 rules
MPEP § 906 — International Classification of Patents for Inventions28 rules
MPEP § 907 — Locarno Classification Designations7 rules
MPEP § 909.01 — Assignment, Transfer and Classification Challenges under Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC)2 rules
MPEP § 909.01(a) — New Applications in CPC2 rules
MPEP § 909.01(b) — Classification and Assignment to Examiner in CPC3 rules
MPEP § 909.01(c) — Immediate Inspection of Amendments2 rules
MPEP § 909.01(d) — Classification Challenge Procedure in CPC7 rules
MPEP § 909.02 — Applications: Assignment and Transfer in USPC1 rules
MPEP § 909.02(a) — New Design and Plant Patent Applications under 35 U.S.C. 1610 rules
MPEP § 909.02(b) — Classification and Assignment to Examiner4 rules
MPEP § 909.02(d) — Transfer Procedure11 rules
MPEP § 909.02(e) — General Guidelines Governing the Assignment of Nonprovisional Design and Plant Applications for Examination12 rules