MPEP § 1128 — MPEP § 1128
Current through: 2022-07-01

1128-Availability of Published Applications 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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 Chapter 1100 

 Section 1128 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 1128 Availability of Published Applications [R-01.2024]

 
 37 CFR 1.14 Patent applications preserved in confidence. 

 
 (a) Confidentiality of patent application information. Patent
 applications that have not been published under 35 U.S.C.
 122(b) are generally preserved in confidence pursuant to
 35 U.S.C.
 122(a) . Information concerning the filing, pendency, or
 subject matter of an application for patent, including status information, and
 access to the application, will only be given to the public as set forth in
 §
 1.11 or in this section.
 
 (1) Records associated with patent applications (see paragraph
 (g) for international applications and paragraph (j) for international
 design applications) may be available in the following situations:
 
 (ii) Published abandoned applications. The file of an
 abandoned published application is available to the public as set
 forth in § 1.11(a). A copy of the application-as-filed, the file
 contents of the published application, or a specific document in the
 file of the published application may be provided to any person upon
 request, and payment of the appropriate fee set forth in § 1.19(b).
 
 

 (iii) Published pending applications. A copy of the
 application-as-filed, the file contents of the application, or a
 specific document in the file of a pending published application may
 be provided to any person upon request, and payment of the appropriate
 fee set forth in § 1.19(b) . If a
 redacted copy of the application was used for the patent application
 publication, the copy of the specification, drawings, and papers may
 be limited to a redacted copy. The Office will not provide access to
 the paper file of a pending application that has been published,
 except as provided in paragraph (c) or (i) of this section.
 

 
 

 
 

 
 *****

 
 (b) Electronic access to an application. Where a copy
 of the application file or access to the application may be made available
 pursuant to this section, the Office may at its discretion provide access to only
 an electronic copy of the specification, drawings, and file contents of the
 application. 
 

 
 *****

 
 I. ELECTRONIC ACCESS Patent application publications are available electronically on the
 USPTO website ( www.uspto.gov ).
 Any member of the public may obtain status information concerning any published
 application via Patent Center. See MPEP § 1730 . Published applications
 that have been scanned into Patent Center may be available electronically. See
 37 CFR
 1.14(b) . Note that if a published patent application is pending
 and it is not maintained in Patent Center, the paper application file itself will not be
 available to the public for inspection. Only copies of the application file may be
 obtained pursuant to 37 CFR 1.14(a)(1)(iii) . See
 MPEP §
 103 for additional information pertaining to access to patent
 application files. 
 

 II. COPIES OF PUBLISHED APPLICATIONS Any member of the public may submit a request under 37 CFR
 1.14(a)(1)(ii) or (iii) and the fee set forth in
 37 CFR
 1.19(b) to the Patent and Trademark Copy Fulfillment Branch of the
 Public Records Division or electronically through the Certified Copy Center storefront
 at www.uspto.gov/
 CertifiedCopyCenter for:
 

 
 (A) a copy of the complete file wrapper and contents of, or a copy of
 a specific paper in, any published application, provided that no redacted copy was
 timely submitted for publication; or
 

 (B) an appropriately redacted copy of the file wrapper and contents
 of, or a copy of a specific paper in, any published application for which a
 redacted copy was timely submitted for publication.
 

 III. STATUS INFORMATION Any member of the public may obtain status information concerning any
 published application via Patent Center. See MPEP § 1730 . Status information is
 defined to include identification of whether the application has been published under
 35 U.S.C.
 122(b) , as well as whether the application is pending, abandoned,
 or patented, and the application number. Status information may also be provided when
 the application is referred to by its application number in a U.S. patent application
 publication as well as a U.S. patent, an international publication of an international
 application under PCT
 Article 21(2) , or a publication of an international registration
 under Hague Agreement Article 10(3) of an international design application designating
 the United States. The public may obtain continuity data for applications that have been
 published as a U.S. patent application publication or as a U.S. patent. See also
 MPEP §
 102 .
 

 [top] 

 

 

 
 

 
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 1101-Request for Statutory Invention Registration (SIR) 

 1102-1110-[Reserved] 

 1111-SIR Publication and Effect 

 1112-1119-[Reserved] 

 1120-Eighteen-Month Publication of Patent Applications 

 1121-Content of a Patent Application Publication 

 1122-Requests for Nonpublication 

 1123-Rescission of a Nonpublication Request 

 1124-Notice of Foreign Filing 

 1125-Express Abandonment to Avoid Publication 

 1126-Publication Fees 

 1127-Notice of Publication 

 1128-Availability of Published Applications 

 1129-Request for Early Publication 

 1130-Republication and Correction of Patent Application Publications 

 1131-[Reserved] 

 1132-Requests for Redacted Publication 

 1133-Voluntary Publication 

 1134-Third Party Inquiries and Correspondence in a Published Application 
 1134.01-Third Party Submissions Under 37 CFR 1.290 

 
 

 1135-PGPub Forms 

 

 

 
 

 
 
 

 
 

 

 
 
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 Last Modified: 
 
 03/09/2026 20:50:32