MPEP § 1121 — MPEP § 1121
Current through: 2022-07-01

1121-Content of a Patent Application Publication 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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 Chapter 1100 

 Section 1121 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 1121 Content of a Patent Application Publication [R-01.2024]

 
 37 CFR 1.215 Patent Application Publication 

 
 (a) The publication of an application under
 35 U.S.C.
 122(b) shall include a patent application publication. The
 date of publication shall be indicated on the patent application publication. The
 patent application publication will be based upon the specification and drawings
 deposited on the filing date of the application, as well as the application data
 sheet and/or the inventor's oath or declaration. The patent application
 publication may also be based upon amendments to the specification (other than the
 abstract or the claims) that are reflected in a substitute specification under
 §
 1.125(b) , amendments to the abstract under § 1.121(b) ,
 amendments to the claims that are reflected in a complete claim listing under
 §
 1.121(c) , and amendments to the drawings under
 §
 1.121(d) , provided that such substitute specification or
 amendment is submitted in sufficient time to be entered into the Office file
 wrapper of the application before technical preparations for publication of the
 application have begun. Technical preparations for publication of an application
 generally begin four months prior to the projected date of publication. The patent
 application publication of an application that has entered the national stage
 under 35 U.S.C.
 371 may also include amendments made during the
 international stage. See paragraph (c) of this
 section for publication of an application based upon a copy of the application
 submitted via the USPTO patent electronic filing system. 
 

 (b) The patent application publication will include the
 name of the assignee, person to whom the inventor is under an obligation to assign
 the invention, or person who otherwise shows sufficient proprietary interest in
 the matter if that information is provided in the application data sheet in an
 application filed under § 1.46 . Assignee information
 may be included on the patent application publication in other applications if the
 assignee information is provided in an application data sheet submitted in
 sufficient time to be entered into the Office file wrapper of the application
 before technical preparations for publication of the application have begun.
 Providing assignee information in the application data sheet does not substitute
 for compliance with any requirement of part 3 of this chapter to have
 an assignment recorded by the Office. 
 

 (c) At applicant's option, the patent application
 publication will be based upon the copy of the application (specification,
 drawings, and the application data sheet and/or the inventor's oath or
 declaration) as amended, provided that applicant supplies such a copy in
 compliance with the USPTO patent electronic filing system requirements within one
 month of the mailing date of the first Office communication that includes a
 confirmation number for the application, or fourteen months of the earliest filing
 date for which a benefit is sought under title 35, United States Code, whichever
 is later.
 

 (d) If the copy of the application submitted pursuant
 to paragraph (c) of this section does not comply with the USPTO patent electronic
 filing system requirements, the Office will publish the application as provided in
 paragraph (a) of this section. If, however, the Office has not started the
 publication process, the Office may use an untimely filed copy of the application
 supplied by the applicant under paragraph (c) of this section in creating the
 patent application publication.
 

 
 

 
 Pre-AIA 37 CFR 1.215 Patent application publication 

 
 (a) The publication of an application under 35 U.S.C.
 122(b) shall include a patent application publication. The
 date of publication shall be indicated on the patent application publication. The
 patent application publication will be based upon the specification and drawings
 deposited on the filing date of the application, as well as the executed oath or
 declaration submitted to complete the application. The patent application
 publication may also be based upon amendments to the specification (other than the
 abstract or the claims) that are reflected in a substitute specification under
 §
 1.125(b) , amendments to the abstract under § 1.121(b) ,
 amendments to the claims that are reflected in a complete claim listing under
 §
 1.121(c) , and amendments to the drawings under
 §
 1.121(d) , provided that such substitute specification or
 amendment is submitted in sufficient time to be entered into the Office file
 wrapper of the application before technical preparations for publication of the
 application have begun. Technical preparations for publication of an application
 generally begin four months prior to the projected date of publication. The patent
 application publication of an application that has entered the national stage
 under 35 U.S.C.
 371 may also include amendments made during the
 international stage. See paragraph (c) of this section for publication of an
 application based upon a copy of the application submitted via the Office
 electronic filing system.
 

 (b) If applicant wants the patent application publication to include
 assignee information, the applicant must include the assignee information on the
 application transmittal sheet or the application data sheet ( § 1.76 ).
 Assignee information may not be included on the patent application publication
 unless this information is provided on the application transmittal sheet or
 application data sheet included with the application on filing. Providing this
 information on the application transmittal sheet or the application data sheet
 does not substitute for compliance with any requirement of part 3 of this chapter
 to have an assignment recorded by the Office. 
 

 (c) At applicant’s option, the patent application publication will be
 based upon the copy of the application (specification, drawings, and oath or
 declaration) as amended, provided that applicant supplies such a copy in
 compliance with the Office electronic filing system requirements within one month
 of the mailing date of the first Office communication that includes a confirmation
 number for the application, or fourteen months of the earliest filing date for
 which a benefit is sought under title 35, United States Code, whichever is
 later.
 

 (d) If the copy of the application submitted pursuant to paragraph
 (c) of this section does not comply with the Office electronic filing system
 requirements, the Office will publish the application as provided in paragraph (a)
 of this section. If, however, the Office has not started the publication process,
 the Office may use an untimely filed copy of the application supplied by the
 applicant under paragraph (c) of this section in creating the patent application
 publication.
 

 
 

 A patent application publication includes a front page containing
 information similar to that contained on the front page of a patent, the drawings (if any),
 and the specification (including claims). The patent application publication will generally
 be based upon the following:
 

 
 (A) The patent application papers and drawings deposited on the filing
 date of the application;
 

 (B) The executed oath or declaration submitted to complete the
 application and/or application data sheet for applications filed on or after
 September 16, 2012; and
 

 (C) Any subsequently filed application papers and drawings submitted in
 reply to a preexamination notice requiring a title and abstract in compliance with
 37 CFR
 1.72 , application papers in compliance with 37 CFR 1.52 ,
 drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.84 , a “Sequence Listing”
 in compliance with 37 CFR 1.821 through 1.825 (for applications filed
 before July 1, 2022), or a “Sequence Listing XML” in compliance with
 37 CFR
 1.831 through 1.835 (for applications filed on
 or after July 1, 2022).
 

 I. AMENDMENTS The patent application publication may also be based upon amendments
 that expedite the publication process, provided that such amendments are submitted in
 sufficient time to be entered into the application file before technical preparations
 for publication of the application have begun (generally four months prior to the
 projected publication date). While the Office will attempt to use the amendments
 submitted by applicants, applicants are not entitled to have the amendments used in the
 publication. For example, the patent application publication may also be based upon the
 following amendments because they are in formats useable for publication:
 

 
 (A) Amendments to the specification that are reflected in a
 substitute specification under 37 CFR 1.125(b) ;
 

 (B) An amendment to the abstract under 37 CFR
 1.121(b) ;
 

 (C) Amendments to the claims that are reflected in a complete claim
 listing under 37
 CFR 1.121(c) ; and
 

 (D) Amendments to drawings under 37 CFR 1.121(d) .
 

 
 The patent application publication of an application that has entered
 the national stage under 35 U.S.C. 371 may also include
 amendments made during the international stage, such as: amendments under
 Article
 34 and 19 ; rectifications; corrections of
 physical defects under PCT Rule 26 ; and an abstract rewritten
 by the International Searching Authority. 
 

 If an applicant wants the publication to include drawings other than
 those submitted with the application as filed (e.g., better quality or amended
 drawings), applicant may file the replacement drawings in sufficient time to be entered
 into the application file before four months prior to the projected publication date.
 The Office cannot guarantee that the latest amendment or any particular
 amendment will be included in the patent application publication. If applicant
 wishes to have the patent application publication be based upon a copy of the
 application (specification, drawings and oath or declaration) as amended, applicant must
 supply such a copy via the USPTO patent electronic filing system, e.g., set forth in the
 Legal Framework for Patent Electronic System within one month of the mailing date of the
 first Office correspondence (e.g., filing receipt) including a confirmation number for
 the application or fourteen months of the earliest filing date for which a benefit is
 sought under title 35, United States Code, whichever is later (see 37 CFR
 1.215(c) and Assignment of Confirmation Number and Time
 Period for Filing a Copy of an Application by EFS for Eighteen-Month Publication
 Purposes, 1241 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 97 (December 12,
 2000)). See also III. AMENDED APPLICATION FILED VIA THE USPTO PATENT ELECTRONIC FILING
 SYSTEM, below. The Office will use the electronic copy provided by the applicant to
 create the publication. A proper continued prosecution application (CPA) filed on or
 after November 29, 2000 (but before July 14, 2003) will be published based upon the
 application papers deposited on the filing date of the first prior application. 
 

 Applicants may review the bibliographic information contained in the
 Office’s database, and application papers that have been scanned into the file wrapper,
 via Patent Center. Applicants should bring any errors to the Office’s attention before
 technical preparations for publication of the application have begun (generally four
 months prior to the projected publication date). 
 

 Due to the high cost and limited usefulness of printed paper or
 composed electronic image versions of lengthy nucleotide and/or amino acid sequences,
 “Sequence Listings” (for applications filed before July 1, 2022) and “Sequence Listing
 XMLs” (for applications filed on or after July 1, 2022) which are at least 600 Kb (about
 300 typed pages) are not printed with the paper and composed electronic image (page
 image) versions of patents and patent application publications. It is noted that a
 “Sequence Listing XML” file is transformed from an XML file to an ASCII plain text file,
 and the ASCII plain text file size is used to determine if the “Sequence Listing XML” is
 a lengthy “Sequence Listing XML.” Lengthy “Sequence Listings” or “Sequence Listing XMLs”
 will be published only in electronic form on the USPTO sequence homepage ( https://seqdata.uspto.gov ). The
 patent or patent application publication will include a statement that the patent or
 application contains a lengthy “Sequence Listing” or “Sequence Listing XML” section (as
 applicable) and a hyperlink to the webpage containing the “Sequence Listing” or
 “Sequence Listing XML”. See MPEP §§ 2419 et seq. and
 2435 .
 

 A. Avoid Filing Preliminary Amendments Applicants should not file any preliminary amendment with the
 application. Submitting applications without any accompanying preliminary amendment
 reduces the processing required of the Office, and will help to ensure that patent
 application publications are printed correctly.
 

 A preliminary amendment that is present on the filing date of the
 application is part of the original disclosure of the application under
 37 CFR
 1.115(a)(1) . The Office will include such a preliminary
 amendment that is present on the filing date of the application in the patent
 application publication. If the preliminary amendment that is present on the filing
 date of the application is not in a format that is useable for publication, the
 Office will issue a notice requiring the applicant to submit the amendment in a
 format useable for publication. Generally, a substitute specification (excluding
 claims) is required for any preliminary amendments to the specification (other than
 the claims) that are present on the filing date of the application. Even though a
 substitute specification is a useable format for publication, applicant should not
 file a substitute specification with the application because the application size fee
 will be calculated based on the application papers including the clean version and
 marked-up version of the substitute specification.
 

 To avoid submitting preliminary amendments, applicants should
 incorporate any desired amendments into the text of the specification including a new
 set of claims, even where the application is a continuation or divisional application
 of a previously-filed patent application. In such a continuation or divisional
 application, a new specification (e.g., reflecting amendments made in the parent
 application) may be submitted together with a copy of the oath or declaration from
 the previously filed application so long as no new matter is included in the
 specification. See pre-AIA 37 CFR 1.63 (d)(1)(iii) . The specific reference to the
 prior application required by 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or
 120 and 37 CFR 1.78(a) in applications
 filed before September 16, 2012 can be submitted in an application data sheet (ADS)
 rather than in a preliminary amendment to the first sentence(s) of the specification.
 Such references in applications filed on or after September 16, 2012 may only be made
 in an ADS. If the specific reference is submitted in a preliminary amendment,
 however, a substitute specification will not be required if the preliminary amendment
 only adds or amends a benefit claim.
 

 B. Requests for Republication to Correct Errors Applications with poor quality text, which may be acceptable for
 scanning and examination purposes, may lead to errors in the patent application
 publication. Correction of these errors and inclusion of any desired amendments into
 the text of the originally-filed specification and drawings will only occur if
 applicant files a request for republication under 37 CFR 1.221(a) . They will not be
 corrected by the Office in a corrected publication under 37 CFR
 1.221(b) . See MPEP § 1130 .
 

 II. APPENDICES Appendices, other than those containing “Sequence Listings” (for
 applications filed before July 1, 2022), “Sequence Listing XMLs” (for applications filed
 on or after July 1, 2022), or “Large Tables”, are not printed if they are contained on
 pages located after the claims. If the application includes multiple claim sets in the
 specification, the Office may treat pages located after the first set of claims as
 appendices. Note that computer program listings may be printed if they are included in
 the specification before the claims, but that “Computer Program Listing Appendices” that
 are submitted via the USPTO patent electronic filing system or on a read-only optical
 disc in accordance with 37 CFR 1.96(c) and 37 CFR 1.52(e) are
 not printed as part of the patent or patent application publication. 
 

 III. AMENDED APPLICATION FILED VIA THE USPTO PATENT ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM At applicant’s option, a patent application publication may be based
 upon a copy of the application (specification, drawings and oath or declaration) as
 amended, provided that applicant supplies such a copy in compliance with the USPTO
 patent electronic filing system requirements, e.g. set forth in the Legal Framework for
 Patent Electronic System within one month of the mailing date of the first Office
 communication that includes a confirmation number for the application, or fourteen
 months of the earliest filing date for which a benefit is sought under title 35, United
 States Code, whichever is later. 37 CFR 1.215(c) . If the copy of the
 application submitted under 37 CFR 1.215(c) does not comply with
 the USPTO patent electronic filing system requirements, the Office will publish the
 application as provided in 37 CFR 1.215(a) . If the copy of the
 application submitted under 37 CFR 1.215(c) was untimely, the
 Office may use the untimely filed copy of the application supplied by the applicant
 under 37 CFR
 1.215(c) in creating the patent application publication so long as
 the copy was received before the Office has started the publication process. For further
 information about the USPTO patent electronic filing system, see the Electronic Business
 Center on the USPTO website ( www.uspto.gov ).
 

 IV. APPLICANT INFORMATION If a patent application is filed pursuant to
 37 CFR
 1.46 , the patent application publication will include the name of
 the assignee, person to whom the inventor is under an obligation to assign the
 invention, or person who otherwise shows sufficient proprietary interest in the matter.
 The information must be provided on the application data sheet (ADS) filed with the
 application. If the applicant information is corrected or updated in accordance with
 37 CFR
 1.46(c) after filing the application, the corrected or updated
 information may be used, if the information is recognized by the Office before the
 technical preparation for the publication has begun.
 

 Errors in applicant information printed on the
 publication are not considered material mistakes by the Office under 37 CFR
 1.211(b) (e.g., errors in the assignee’s name). See
 MPEP §
 1130 . Thus, these errors may only be corrected if applicant
 files a request for republication under 37 CFR 1.211(a) . 
 

 V. ASSIGNEE INFORMATION For applications filed on or after September 16, 2012, if the applicant
 would like the assignee data to be published, the assignee data must be submitted on the
 application data sheet (ADS). For applications filed before September 16, 2012, if the
 applicant would like the assignee data to be published, the information must be provided
 on the application transmittal letter or the application data sheet (ADS) filed with the
 application. Providing this information on the application transmittal letter or the
 application data sheet does not substitute for compliance with any requirement of 37 CFR
 Part 3 to have an assignment recorded by the Office. If the assignee data is recorded
 with the Assignment Recordation Branch only, the information will not be published as
 part of the patent application publication.
 

 Errors in assignee information printed on the publication are not
 considered material mistakes by the Office under 37 CFR 1.221(b) (e.g., errors in the
 assignee’s name). See MPEP § 1130 . Thus, these assignment errors and applicant’s
 failure to include assignment data may only be corrected if applicant files a request
 for republication under 37 CFR 1.221(a) .
 

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 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 

 
 

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