What should be included in the incorporation-by-reference statement in a patent application?

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.

The incorporation-by-reference statement in a patent application should include information about specific types of electronic documents that are to become part of the permanent USPTO records. According to 37 CFR 1.77(b)(5), this statement should identify:

• The names of each file
• The date of creation of each file
• The size of each file in bytes

This applies to the following document types:

• A ‘Computer Program Listing Appendix’
• A ‘Sequence Listing’
• ‘Large Tables’
• An XML file for a ‘Sequence Listing XML’

The MPEP states, The specification is required to include an incorporation-by-reference of electronic documents that are to become part of the permanent United States Patent and Trademark Office records in the file of a patent application.