How does a Secrecy Order affect patent application prosecution?

A Secrecy Order significantly impacts the prosecution of a patent application. According to 37 CFR 5.3:

Unless specifically ordered otherwise, action on the application by the Office and prosecution by the applicant will proceed during the time an application is under secrecy order to the point indicated in this section.

Key effects include:

• Applications under final rejection must be appealed or prosecuted to avoid abandonment, but appeals won’t be set for hearing until the Secrecy Order is removed.
• Interferences or derivation proceedings won’t be instituted for applications under Secrecy Order.
• When the application is in condition for allowance, the applicant and the relevant agency will be notified, but no notice of allowance will be issued until the Secrecy Order is removed.
• International applications under Secrecy Order won’t be transmitted to international authorities or the applicant.

These restrictions ensure that sensitive information remains protected while allowing some progress in the application process.

For more information on international applications, visit: international applications.

For more information on patent prosecution, visit: patent prosecution.