When is a Patentability Report used in the patent examination process?
A Patentability Report is used in specific circumstances during the patent examination process. According to MPEP § 705, it’s used:
- When an application is properly assigned to one Technology Center (TC)
- The application contains one or more claims classifiable in one or more other TCs
- These claims are not divisible from each other or from the claims governing the application’s classification in the first TC
However, it’s crucial to understand that Patentability Reports are not a routine part of examination. The MPEP explicitly states: Note that the Patentability Report practice is only to be used in extraordinary circumstances.
This underscores that P.R.s are reserved for special cases where the expertise of multiple TCs is required to properly examine an application’s claims.
To learn more: