Are copies of U.S. patents required when submitting an IDS?
Generally, copies of U.S. patents and U.S. patent application publications listed in an Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) are not required unless specifically requested by the Office.
According to the MPEP: ‘There is no requirement for a copy of each U.S. patent or U.S. patent application publication listed in an IDS unless required by the Office.‘ (37 CFR 1.98(a)(2))
However, it’s important to note that copies of other types of documents, such as foreign patents and non-patent literature, are typically required. The MPEP specifies that legible copies must be provided for:
- Each foreign patent
- Each publication or that portion which caused it to be listed
- For each cited pending unpublished U.S. application, the application specification including the claims, and any drawings of the application, unless the cited pending U.S. application is stored in the Image File Wrapper (IFW) system
- All other information or that portion which caused it to be listed
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Topics:
Patent Law,
Patent Procedure