MPEP § 503 — MPEP § 503
Current through: 2022-07-01

503-Application Number and Filing Receipt 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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 Manual of Patent Examining Procedure 

 Chapter 0500 

 Section 503 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 503 Application Number and Filing Receipt [R-01.2024]

 
 37 CFR 1.54 Parts of application to be filed together; filing receipt. 

 
 (a) It is desirable that all parts of the complete application be
 deposited in the Office together; otherwise, a letter must accompany each part,
 accurately and clearly connecting it with the other parts of the application.
 See § 1.53(f) and (g) with regard to completion
 of an application.
 

 (b) Applicant will be informed of the application number and filing
 date by a filing receipt, unless the application is an application filed under
 §
 1.53(d) . A letter limited to a request for a filing receipt
 may be signed by a juristic applicant or patent owner.
 

 
 
 I. APPLICATION NUMBER Application numbers consisting of a series code and a serial number are
 assigned by the Office of Patent Application Processing (OPAP) immediately after mail
 has been opened. If an application is filed using the USPTO patent electronic filing
 system, an Acknowledgement Receipt that contains a time and date stamp, an application
 number and a confirmation number will be provided once the application is successfully
 submitted to the USPTO patent electronic system.
 

 The following series codes are assigned to the applications identified
 below:
 

 
 (A) 01/ - 18/ - for nonprovisional applications (utility, plant, and
 reissue), during the following time periods: 
 
 01 –1925 to 1934,

 02 – 1935 to 1947,

 03 – 1948 to 1959,

 04 – 1960 to 1969,

 05 – 1970 to 1978,

 06 – 1979 to 1986,

 07 – 1987 to 1992,

 08 – 1993 to 1997, 

 09 – 1998 to Nov. 2001, 

 10 – Dec. 2001 to Nov. 2004, 

 11 – Dec. 2004 to Dec. 2007, 

 12 – Dec. 2007 to Mar. 2011, 

 13 – Dec. 2010 to Aug. 2013, 

 14 – Aug. 2013 to July 2016,

 15 - Jan. 2016 to June 2018,

 16 - June 2018 to August 2020,

 17 - August 2020 to March 2023, and

 18 - November 2022 to present;

 
 

 (B) 29/ - for design applications; 

 (C) 35/ - for international design applications;

 (D) 60/ - 63/ - for provisional applications during the
 following time periods:
 
 60 - June 1995 to October 2007,
 61 - October 2007 to August 2014,

 62 - May 2014 to March 2022, and

 63 - March 2020 to present;

 

 
 

 (E) 90/ - for ex parte reexamination proceedings;
 
 

 (F) 95/ - for inter partes 
 reexamination proceedings; and
 

 (G) 96/ - for supplemental examination proceedings and
 resulting ex parte reexamination proceedings.
 

 
 For applications filed via the USPTO patent electronic
 filing system, after the Office receives a successful submission, an Electronic
 Acknowledgement Receipt is provided to the person filing the application. The
 acknowledgment receipt contains the "receipt date," the time the correspondence was
 received at the Office (not the local time at the submitter's location), and a full
 listing of the correspondence submitted. The Electronic Acknowledgement Receipt is the
 electronic equivalent of a postcard receipt. See MPEP § 502.05 .
 

 For non-electronic filings, if a self-addressed postcard is submitted
 with a patent application, that postcard will be provided with both the receipt date and
 application number prior to returning it to the addressee. The application number
 identified on such a postcard receipt is merely the preliminary assignment of an
 application number to the application, and should not be relied upon (e.g., with respect
 to foreign filings) as necessarily representing the application number assigned to such
 application. See 37
 CFR 1.53(b) . 
 

 The identifying data on the postcard should include:

 
 (A) inventor’s name(s);

 (B) title of invention;

 (C) number of pages of specification, claims (for nonprovisional
 applications), and sheet(s) of drawing(s);
 

 (D) whether the inventor's oath or declaration is included; 

 (E) a list of any additional forms included with the application
 (e.g., application transmittal form, application data sheet, fee transmittal form,
 and/or provisional application cover sheet); and 
 

 (F) amount and manner of paying the fee.

 
 A return postcard should be attached to each patent
 application for which a receipt is desired.
 

 It is important that the return postcard itemize all of the components
 of the application. If the postcard does not itemize each of the components of the
 application, it will not serve as evidence that any component which was not itemized was
 received by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). See subsection III,
 below, for additional information pertaining to return postcards. It should be
 recognized that the identification of an application by application number does not
 necessarily signify that the USPTO has accepted the application as complete
 ( 37 CFR
 1.53(a) ).
 

 II. FILING RECEIPTS OPAP mails a filing receipt to the attorney or agent, if any, otherwise
 to the applicant, at the correspondence address of record for each application filed
 which meets the minimum requirements to receive a filing date. The filing receipt
 includes the application number, filing date, a confirmation number, and, if available,
 the number of an art unit where the application is likely to be examined. The filing
 receipt also includes other information about the application as applicable, such as
 continuing data, national stage data, foreign priority data, foreign filing license
 data, entity status information, and the date the Office anticipates publishing the
 application under 35
 U.S.C. 122(b) . The filing receipt represents the official
 assignment by the USPTO of a specific application number and confirmation number to a
 particular application. See 37 CFR 1.54(b) . The application
 number officially assigned to an application on the filing receipt may differ from the
 application number identified on a postcard receipt submitted with such application,
 and, as between inconsistent filing receipts and postcard receipts, the application
 number on the filing receipt is controlling.
 

 Applicants are encouraged to check their filing receipts
 for accuracy with particular attention to the inventor’s and applicant’s names, benefit
 and priority claims, and whether or not a nonpublication request, if submitted, was
 recognized.
 

 The confirmation number is a four-digit number that is assigned to each
 newly filed application. The confirmation number, in combination with the application
 number, is used to verify the accuracy of the application number placed on
 correspondence filed with the Office to avoid misidentification of an application due to
 a transposition error in the application number. The confirmation number may be found in
 the upper left-hand corner of the filing receipt. The confirmation number will also be
 available through the USPTO patent electronic filing system. The Office includes the
 application’s confirmation number (in addition to the application number) on the cover
 sheet accompanying Office actions and on filing receipts. The confirmation number must
 be used when submitting a USPTO patent electronic filing system copy of the application
 for publication to verify that the application number correctly identifies the
 application for which a copy is being submitted for publication. The Office also
 recommends that applicants include the application’s confirmation number (in addition to
 the application number) on all correspondence submitted to the Office concerning the
 application.
 

 A continued prosecution application (CPA) filed under 37 CFR 1.53(d) 
 (design applications only) will be assigned the application number of the prior
 application for identification purposes.
 

 A nonprovisional application, other than an application for a design
 patent including a CPA filed under 37 CFR 1.53(d) , is entitled to a
 filing date as of the date of receipt of the specification, with or without claims. An
 application for a design patent, other than a CPA filed under 37 CFR 1.53(d) , is
 entitled to a filing date as of the date of receipt of the specification, including at
 least one claim, and any required drawings. See 37 CFR 1.53(b) . A CPA is entitled to
 a filing date as of the date that a proper request under 37 CFR 1.53(d) is
 filed. The filing receipt will be mailed at the time a determination is made that the
 application meets the minimum requirements to receive a filing date. The inventor's oath
 or declaration, basic filing fee, and search fee and examination fee as set forth in
 37 CFR
 1.16 , may be filed later than the remaining application papers,
 but if so, they must be accompanied by the required surcharge (if appropriate, see
 MPEP §
 506 ). See 37 CFR 1.53(f) . If the inventor's
 oath or declaration, basic filing fee, and/or any required search fee and examination
 fee with the appropriate surcharge are not timely filed, the application will be
 abandoned. For original (non-reissue) applications filed on or after September 16, 2012,
 the filing of the inventor’s oath or declaration may be postponed until the date the
 issue fee is paid if an application data sheet in accordance with 37 CFR 1.76 is
 timely filed providing the required inventor information. See 35 U.S.C.
 115(f) and 37 CFR 1.53(f) . The surcharge
 required for filing the inventor’s oath or declaration after the filing date of the
 application, however, must be paid on filing of the application or in response to a
 Notice to File Missing Parts. Also, for applications filed on or after December 18,
 2013, the filing of at least one claim may be postponed until the expiration of the time
 period set in Notice to File Missing Parts. Claim(s) and the surcharge must be filed in
 response to the Notice to File Missing Parts. See MPEP § 506 . 
 

 A provisional application filed on or after December 18, 2013 is
 entitled to a filing date as of the date of receipt of the specification, with or
 without claims, in the Office ( 37 CFR 1.53(c) ); a provisional
 application filed before December 18, 2013 must also include any required drawings to be
 entitled to a filing date ( pre-PLT (AIA) 37 CFR 1.53 (c) ). See
 also MPEP §
 608.02 , subsection I. See 37 CFR 1.53(c) . A cover sheet
 ( 37 CFR
 1.51(c)(1) ), which may be an application data sheet
 ( 37 CFR
 1.76 ) or a cover letter, identifying the application as a
 provisional application is required to prevent the provisional application from being
 treated as a nonprovisional application. 37 CFR 1.53(c)(1) . 
 

 Each application which meets the minimum requirements to receive a
 filing date is given a filing date. It is important, when referring to application
 files, to identify them by their filing dates and confirmation numbers as well as by
 application numbers.
 

 Attorney docket numbers must be limited to a maximum of 25 characters to
 prevent truncation. The USPTO system data base allows a maximum of 25 characters for the
 attorney docket numbers. Spaces, slashes, and hyphens will no longer be included in the
 entered docket number on the official filing receipt. In an application where CASE or
 NAVY-CASE appears before the first character in the docket number, only the characters
 after CASE or NAVY-CASE will be entered on the official filing receipt. 
 

 For non-electronically filed applications, the application papers are
 processed by OPAP and added to the Office’s Image File Wrapper (IFW) system.
 

 Applications which are entitled to a filing date, whether filed by
 regular mail, by Priority Mail Express ® under
 37 CFR
 1.10 , by hand-delivery, by the USPTO patent electronic filing
 system, or otherwise, will not be returned to applicant even if requested. See
 37 CFR
 1.59 . Accordingly, applicants must be careful not to file
 applications which are not intended to be filed, e.g., duplicates of applications
 already filed. Note that 37 CFR 1.26(a) provides that a
 change of purpose after the payment of a fee, as when a party desires to withdraw the
 filing of a patent application for which the fee was paid, will not entitle the party to
 a refund of such fee. See MPEP § 607.02 .
 

 III. RETURN POSTCARD If a submitter desires a receipt for any item (e.g., paper or fee) filed
 in the USPTO by means other than the USPTO patent electronic filing system, it may be
 obtained by enclosing with the paper a self-addressed postcard specifically identifying
 the item. See subsection I, above, and MPEP § 502.05 for Electronic
 Acknowledgment Receipts. To ensure the receipt of return receipt postcards, users must
 either: (A) purchase already stamped postcards from the United States Postal Service
 (USPS) or affix postage stamps to their postcards; or (B) if a postage meter is used,
 ensure that the meter postmark does not show the date. Any return receipt postcard
 containing a dated meter postmark may not be delivered by the USPS to the address
 provided on the postcard. Users are reminded that they are solely responsible for
 placing the proper postage on self-addressed postcards that are submitted to the USPTO
 for the purpose of obtaining a receipt for correspondence being filed in the USPTO.
 Users should check with the USPS regarding postage and what size cards are acceptable to
 the USPS. Any return receipt postcard that does not contain sufficient postage or is not
 acceptable may not be delivered by the USPS to the address provided on the postcard,
 and, if returned to the USPTO, may be discarded.
 

 The USPTO will stamp the receipt date on the postcard and place it in
 the outgoing mail. A postcard receipt which itemizes and properly identifies the items
 which are being filed serves as prima facie evidence of receipt in
 the USPTO of all the items listed thereon on the date stamped thereon by the USPTO.
 

 The identifying data on the postcard should be so complete as to
 clearly identify the item for which a receipt is requested. For example, the postcard
 should identify the inventor’s name, application number (if known), confirmation number
 (if known), filing date, interference number, title of the invention, etc. The postcard
 should also identify the type of paper being filed, e.g., new application, affidavit,
 amendment, notice of appeal, appeal brief, drawings, fees, motions, supplemental oath or
 declaration, petition, etc., and the number of pages being submitted. If a new
 application is being filed, all parts of the application being submitted should be
 separately listed on the postcard, e.g., the number of pages of specification (including
 written description, claims and abstract), number of claims, number of sheets of
 drawings, number of pages of oath/declaration, number of pages of cover sheet
 (provisional application).
 

 The postcard receipt will not serve as prima facie 
 evidence of receipt of any item which is not adequately itemized on the postcard. For
 example, merely listing on the postcard “a complete application” or “patent application”
 will not serve as a proper receipt for each of the required components of an application
 (e.g., specification (including claims), drawings (if necessary), oath or declaration
 and the application filing fee) or missing portions (e.g., pages, sheets of drawings) of
 an application if one of the components or portion of a component is found to be missing
 by the USPTO. Each separate component should be specifically and properly itemized on
 the postcard. Furthermore, merely incorporating by reference in the postcard receipt,
 the items listed in a transmittal letter will not serve as prima
 facie evidence of receipt of those items.
 

 The person receiving the item(s) in the USPTO will check the listing on
 the postcard against the item(s) being filed to be sure they are properly identified and
 that all the items listed on the postcard are presently being submitted to the USPTO. If
 any of the items listed on the postcard are not being submitted to the USPTO, those
 items will be crossed off and the postcard initialed by the person receiving the items. 
 

 Upon return of a postcard receipt from the USPTO, the postcard receipt
 should be promptly reviewed by the person who filed the items to ensure that every item
 specifically denoted on the postcard was received by the USPTO. If the postcard receipt
 has been annotated to indicate that a particular item denoted on the postcard was not
 received by the USPTO, the postcard receipt will not serve as prima facie
 evidence of receipt of that item in the USPTO. 
 

 [top] 

 

 

 
 

 
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 501-Filing Papers With the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office 

 502-Depositing Correspondence 
 502.01-Correspondence Transmitted by Facsimile 

 502.02-Correspondence Signature Requirements 

 502.03-Communications via Internet Electronic Mail (email) 

 502.04-Duplicate Copies of Correspondence 

 502.05-Correspondence Transmitted by EFS-Web 

 
 

 503-Application Number and Filing Receipt 

 504-Assignment of Application for Examination 

 505-Date of Receipt Stamp 

 506-Completeness of Original Application 
 506.01-[Reserved] 

 506.02-Review of Refusal To Accord Filing Date 

 
 

 507-Drawing Review in the Office of Patent Application Processing 

 508-Distribution 
 508.01-[Reserved] 

 508.02-Papers Received After Patenting or Abandonment 

 508.03-[Reserved] 

 508.04-Unlocatable Patent or Application Files 

 
 

 509-Payment of Fees 
 509.01-Deposit Accounts 

 509.02-Small Entity Status — Definitions 

 509.03-Claiming Small Entity Status 
 509.03(a)-Duty to Investigate Entitlement to Claim Small Entity Status 

 509.03(b)-Change or Correction of Status 

 
 

 509.04-Micro Entity Status — Definitions 
 509.04(a)-Gross Income Basis for Micro Entity Status 

 509.04(b) -Institution of Higher Education Basis for Micro Entity Status 

 509.04(c) -Parties Who Can Sign the Micro Entity Certification 

 509.04(d) -Continued Obligation to Determine Micro Entity Qualification 

 509.04(e) -Notification of Loss of Entitlement to Micro Entity Status 

 509.04(f) -Correcting Errors in Micro Entity Status 

 
 

 
 

 510-U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Business Hours 

 511-Postal Service Interruptions and Emergencies 

 512-Certificate of Mailing or Transmission 

 513-Deposit as Priority Mail Express® with U.S. Postal Service 

 

 

 
 

 
 
 

 
 

 

 
 
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 Last Modified: 
 
 03/09/2026 20:50:52