MPEP § 309 — MPEP § 309
Current through: 2022-07-01

309-Restrictions Upon Employees of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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 Chapter 0300 

 Section 309 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 309 Restrictions Upon Employees of U.S. Patent and Trademark
 Office [R-07.2015]
 

 
 35 U.S.C. 4 
 Restrictions on officers and employees as to interests in patents. 

 Officers and employees of the Patent and Trademark Office shall be
 incapable, during the period of their appointments and for one year thereafter, of
 applying for a patent and of acquiring, directly or indirectly, except by inheritance or
 bequest, any patent or any right or interest in any patent, issued or to be issued by
 the Office. In patents applied for thereafter they shall not be entitled to any priority
 date earlier than one year after the termination of their appointment.
 

 

 

 See MPEP § 1701 for additional restrictions on
 Office employees.
 

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 301-Ownership/Assignability of Patents and Applications 
 301.01-Accessibility of Assignment Records 

 
 

 302-Recording of Assignment Documents 
 302.01-Assignment Document Must Be Copy for Recording 

 302.02-Translation of Assignment Document 

 302.03-Identifying Patent or Application 

 302.04-Foreign Assignee May Designate Domestic Representative 

 302.05-Address of Assignee 

 302.06-Fee for Recording 

 302.07-Assignment Document Must Be Accompanied by a Cover Sheet 

 302.08-Mailing Address for Submitting Assignment Documents 

 302.09-Facsimile Submission of Assignment Documents 

 302.10-Electronic Submission of Assignment Documents 

 
 

 303-Assignment Documents Not Endorsed on Pending Applications 

 304‑305-[Reserved] 

 306-Assignment of Division, Continuation, Substitute, and Continuation-in-Part in Relation to Parent Application 
 306.01-Assignment of an Application Claiming the Benefits of a Provisional Application 

 
 

 307-Issue to Non-Applicant Assignee 

 308-Issue to Applicant 

 309-Restrictions Upon Employees of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office 

 310-Government License Rights to Contractor-Owned Inventions Made Under Federally Sponsored Research and Development 

 311-Filing of Notice of Arbitration Awards 

 312-[Reserved] 

 313-Recording of Licenses, Security Interests, and Documents Other Than Assignments 

 314-Certificates of Change of Name or of Merger 

 315-Indexing Against a Recorded Certificate 

 316-[Reserved] 

 317-Handling of Documents in the Assignment Recordation Branch 
 317.01-Recording Date 

 317.02-Correction of Unrecorded Returned Documents and Cover Sheets 

 317.03-Effect of Recording 

 
 

 318-Documents Not to be Placed in Files 

 319-[Reserved] 

 320-Title Reports 

 321‑322-[Reserved] 

 323-Procedures for Correcting Errors in Recorded Assignment Document 
 323.01-Correction of Error in Recorded Cover Sheet 
 323.01(a)-Typographical Errors in Cover Sheet 

 323.01(b)-Typographical Errors in Recorded Assignment Document 

 323.01(c)-Assignment or Change of Name Improperly Filed and Recorded by Another Person Against Owner’s Application or Patent 

 323.01(d)-Expungement of Assignment Records 

 
 

 
 

 324-Establishing Right of Assignee To Take Action in Application Filed Before September 16, 2012 

 325-Establishing Right of Assignee To Take Action in Application Filed On or After September 16, 2012 

 

 

 
 

 
 
 

 
 

 

 
 
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 Last Modified: 
 
 03/09/2026 20:49:42