How do I file a delayed benefit claim in an international application?
Filing a delayed benefit claim in an international application involves specific procedures. The MPEP 211.04 provides guidance on this matter:
“A petition under 37 CFR 1.78 for accepting an unintentionally delayed benefit claim and the petition fee under 37 CFR 1.17(m) are required to add a benefit claim under 35 U.S.C. 120 and 365(c) in an abandoned international application designating the United States, even when the international application did not enter the national stage under 35 U.S.C. 371.”
For international applications not filed with the United States Receiving Office and not a nonprovisional application, the petition may be filed in the earliest nonprovisional application that claims benefit to the international application. As stated in MPEP 211.04:
“If a petition under 37 CFR 1.78(c) or (e) is required in an international application that was not filed with the United States Receiving Office and is not a nonprovisional application, then the petition may be filed in the earliest nonprovisional application that claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) to the international application and will be treated as having been filed in the international application.”
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