How does an examiner notify an applicant that a CPA has been established?

When a Continued Prosecution Application (CPA) is established, the examiner notifies the applicant in the first Office action of the CPA. According to MPEP ¶ 2.30, the examiner uses a specific form paragraph:

“The request filed on [1] for a Continued Prosecution Application (CPA) under 37 CFR 1.53(d) based on parent Application No. [2] is acceptable and a CPA has been established. An action on the CPA follows.”

This notification is important because:

• Applicants are not separately notified of the abandonment of the parent application
• A filing receipt is not normally sent for a CPA

Therefore, this Office action serves as the official notification that the CPA has been properly established.

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