What is the purpose of a divisional application in patent law?

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.

A divisional application is a type of patent application that allows an inventor to pursue protection for different aspects of an invention that were disclosed but not claimed in a parent application. According to MPEP 201.06:

A later application for an independent or distinct invention, carved out of a pending application and disclosing and claiming only subject matter disclosed in the earlier or parent application, is known as a divisional application or ‘division.’

The main purposes of a divisional application are:

• To protect multiple inventions disclosed in a single parent application
• To respond to a restriction requirement issued by the USPTO
• To pursue broader or different claim scope than what was allowed in the parent application

Divisional applications are filed under 37 CFR 1.53(b) and can benefit from the filing date of the parent application for the common subject matter.

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