MPEP § 901.07 — Patent Family Information (Annotated Rules)
§901.07 Patent Family Information
This page consolidates and annotates all enforceable requirements under MPEP § 901.07, 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.
Patent Family Information
This section addresses Patent Family Information. Contains: 1 permission and 1 other statement.
Key Rules
Access to Patent Application Files (MPEP 101-106)
Patent family information is available at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (Office) primarily through commercial databases. See MPEP § 901.05 regarding patent family. Examiners have access to this information either directly through the automated search tools or indirectly through the search services of the Scientific and Technical Information Center (STIC). Additionally, Examiners may utilize the Common Citation Document website accessible through the Examiner’s Toolkit to obtain patent family information.
Patent family information is available at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (Office) primarily through commercial databases. See MPEP § 901.05 regarding patent family. Examiners have access to this information either directly through the automated search tools or indirectly through the search services of the Scientific and Technical Information Center (STIC). Additionally, Examiners may utilize the Common Citation Document website accessible through the Examiner’s Toolkit to obtain patent family information.
Citations
| Primary topic | Citation |
|---|---|
| Access to Patent Application Files (MPEP 101-106) | MPEP § 901.05 |
| – | MPEP § 901.06(a) |
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 § 901.07 — Patent Family Information
Source: USPTO901.07 Patent Family Information [R-01.2024]
Patent family information is available at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (Office) primarily through commercial databases. See MPEP § 901.05 regarding patent family. Examiners have access to this information either directly through the automated search tools or indirectly through the search services of the Scientific and Technical Information Center (STIC). Additionally, Examiners may utilize the Common Citation Document website accessible through the Examiner’s Toolkit to obtain patent family information.
I. AVAILABLE DATABASESDerwent’s World Patents Index (WPI) and International Patent Documentation Center (INPADOC) are two databases used for retrieving foreign patent information.
The WPI database is loaded in-house at the Office and is integrated with the Office’s automated search system. WPI in-house is used whenever abstracts are needed or when searches in addition to publication date or patent family are required, such as searches on inventor name or IPC (International Patent Classification). WPI in-house is also the first choice for searches for publication dates or patent families because of its ease of use and low cost.
INPADOC is used for quick searches for publication dates or patent families. The Office enjoys cost effective rates for INPADOC due to an agreement between the Office and the International Patent Documentation Center (now part of the European Patent Office) negotiated several years ago. The agreement applies only to INPADOC as accessed directly on the INPADOC computer in Austria, not to INPADOC as available on other commercial database systems such as ORBIT, DIALOG, or STN.
II. ACCESS TO FOREIGN PATENT INFORMATIONPatent examiners may directly search WPI in-house or INPADOC or both.
Examiners may also request foreign patent searches through STIC. For STIC services, see MPEP § 901.06(a), paragraph IV.