What happens if an international patent application is filed without the applicant’s signature?
If an international patent application is filed without the applicant’s signature, it is considered a correctable defect. According to MPEP 1820: “The international application can be filed without applicant’s signature on the request. The lack of any required signature on the request is a correctable defect under PCT Article 14(1)(a)(i) and (b), and can be…
Read MoreWhat steps were taken if an inventor’s signature was missing from a continuation or divisional application?
If an inventor’s signature was missing from a continuation or divisional application, the Office of Patent Application Processing (OPAP) would typically take the following steps: Send a “Notice to File Missing Parts” requiring the signature of the nonsigning inventor. If a copy of the decision according status under pre-AIA 37 CFR 1.47 was not included…
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