What guidance does MPEP 806.03 provide for voluntarily presented claims in different 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.

MPEP 806.03 offers specific guidance for situations where similar claims are voluntarily presented in different patent applications. The section states:

“Where such claims are voluntarily presented in different applications having at least one common (joint) inventor or a common assignee (i.e., no restriction requirement was made by the Office), disclosing the same embodiments, see MPEP § 804 – § 804.02.”

This means that when an applicant chooses to file multiple applications with claims describing the same embodiments, and these applications share at least one inventor or assignee, the examiner should refer to MPEP § 804 – § 804.02. These sections provide guidance on how to handle potential double patenting issues that may arise in such situations.