How can common ownership be established for the 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) exception?

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.

To establish common ownership for the 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) exception, the following statement is sufficient according to the MPEP:

Application [the application serial number] and the subject matter disclosed in the reference(s) [the patent identifier of the commonly owned applied art (whether U.S. patents, U.S. patent applications, U.S. patent application publications, or WIPO patent publications) that was relied upon in the rejection(s)] were, at the time the invention was effectively filed, owned by [the name of the person(s), organization(s), and/or business entity(ies) that own the application and the commonly owned applied art].

This statement should be:

• Clear and conspicuous
• On a separate piece of paper or in a separately labeled section
• Showing common ownership existing not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention

Additional evidence may be submitted but is not required unless there is independent evidence raising doubt about the accuracy of the statement.