What is the extent of an examiner’s consideration of IDS documents?

An examiner’s consideration of documents listed in an Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) is as follows: Documents are considered in the same manner as other documents in Office search files. The examiner conducts a proper field of search. For non-English language documents, consideration is limited to what can be understood from the concise statement and any…

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How does an examiner indicate consideration of an Information Disclosure Statement?

When an examiner considers an Information Disclosure Statement (IDS), they indicate their consideration in specific ways: Traditionally, the examiner places their initials adjacent to the citations on the PTO/SB/08 form or its equivalent. An alternative electronic signature method may also be used, where: Examiners no longer initial each reference citation considered. Citations not considered are…

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