What is a preliminary amendment in patent applications?

A preliminary amendment is an amendment that is received in the Office on or before the mail date of the first Office action under 37 CFR 1.104. As stated in the MPEP, For applications filed on or after September 21, 2004 (the effective date of 37 CFR 1.115(a)(1)), a preliminary amendment that is present on the filing date of the application is part of the original disclosure of the application. This means that preliminary amendments filed with the application are considered part of the original application content.

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• preliminary amendment
• patent application
• original disclosure