Can examiners other than supervisory patent examiners assign applications?

This page is an FAQ based on guidance from the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure. It is provided as guidance, with links to the ground truth sources. This is information only: it is not legal advice.

Yes, examiners other than supervisory patent examiners can be given the responsibility of assigning applications. The MPEP 909.02(b) provides guidance on this:

“If an examiner other than the supervisory patent examiner is given the responsibility of assigning applications, time so spent may, at the TC Director’s discretion, be charged to ‘Other Time- Classify (non-PGPub) and assign cases’.”

This indicates that:

• While supervisory patent examiners typically assign applications, this task can be delegated to other examiners.
• The decision to assign this responsibility lies with the Technology Center (TC) Director.
• Time spent on classification and assignment by non-supervisory examiners may be recorded under a specific category for administrative purposes.

This flexibility allows for efficient workload distribution within the patent office, depending on the needs and resources of each Technology Center.