1300

OCR transcription for search; preserved printed pages are authoritative

# Chapter 1300 Allowance and Issue

1301
Substantially Allowable Case, Special

1302
Final Review and Preparation for Issue

1302.01 General Review of Disclosure

1302.01 (a) Fee Exempt Application

1302.02 Requirement for a Rewritten Specification

1302.03
Erasure of Notations

1302.04 Examiner's Amendments and Changes

1302.04 (a)
Title of Invention

1302.04 (b)
Cancellation of Non-Statutory Claim

1302.04 (c)
Cancellation of Claims to Non-Elected
Invention

1302.04 (d)
Cancellation of Claims Lost in Inter-
ference

1802.04 (e)
Cancellation of Rejected Claims Follow-
ing Appeal

1302.04 (f)
Data of Copending Application Referred
to-Brought up to Date

1302.04 (g)
Identification of Claims

1302.05
Correction of Drawing

1302.06
Prior Foreign Application

1302.07 Use of Retention Labels to Preserve Aban-
doned Companion Applications

1302.08
Interference Search

1302.09
Notations on File Wrapper

1802.10
Notations on Drawings and on Classification
(Issue) Slip

1302.11
Reference to Assignment Branch

1302.12
Listing of References

1302.13
Signing

1303
Notice of Allowance

1303.01
Amendment Received after Allowance

1303.02
Undelivered

1303.03
Not Withheld Due to Death of Inventor

1304
Withholding From Issue of "Secrecy Order"
Cases

1

1304.01
Amendments After D-10 Notice

1305
Jurisdiction

1306
Public Law 690 Cases

1307
Change in Classification of Cases Which are in
Issue

1308
Withdrawal From Issue

1308.01
Rejection After Allowance

1308.02
Form of Letter

1308.03
For Interference Purposes

1309
Issue of Patent

1309.01
"Printer Waiting" Cases

1309.02
Protest Against Issue

## 1301 Substantially Allowable Case, Special

When an application is in condition for allow-
ance, except as to matters of form, the case will

be considered special and prompt action taken
to require correction of formal matters. See
710.02 (b) paragraph (a).

## 1302 Final Review and Preparation for Issue

### 1302.01 General Review

When an application is apparently ready for
allowance, it should be reviewed by the Ex-
aminer to make certain that the whole case meets
all formal requirements and particularly that
the brief summary of the invention and the de-
scriptive matter are confined to the invention
to which the allowed claims are directed and
that the language of the claims finds clear sup-
port or antecedent basis in the specification.
Neglect to give due attention to these matters
may lead to confusion as to the scope of the
patent.

7

Frequently the invention as originally de-
scribed and claimed was of much greater scope
than that defined in the claims as allowed. Some
or much of the subject matter disclosed may be
entirely outside the bounds of the claims ac-
cepted by the applicant. In such case the Ex-
aminer should require the applicant to modify
his brief summary of the invention and restrict
his descriptive matter so as to be in harmony
with the claims. However valuable for refer-
ence purposes the Examiner may consider the
matter which is extraneous to the claimed in-
vention, patents should be confined in their dis-
closures to the respective inventions patented.
(Rule 71.) Of course enough background,
should be included to make the invention
clearly understandable. See 608.01 (d) and
608.01 (e).

7

There should be clear support or antecedent
basis in the specification for the terminology
used in the claims. Usually the original claims
follow the nomenclature of the specification;
but sometimes in amending the claims or in add-
ing new claims, applicant employs terms that do
not appear in the specification. This may re-
sult in uncertainty as to the interpretation to
be given such terms. See 608.01 (o).

Where a copending application is referred to
in the specification, the Examiner should as-
certain whether it has matured into a patent or
become abandoned and that fact or the patent
number added to the specification.

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### 1302.01 (a)

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The claims should be renumbered as required
by Rule 126, and particular attention should be
given to claims dependent on previous claims
to see that the numbering is consistent. See
608.01 (j) and 608.01 (n).

The title should also be checked. It should
be as short and specific as possible. If a satis-
factory title is not supplied by the applicant, the
Examiner may change the title on or after al-
lowance. See 606 and 606.01.

### 1302.01 (a) Fee Exempt Application

See 607.01 for checking specification to assure
presence of proper stipulation by applicant.

## 1302.02 Specification To Be Rewritten if Confused by Erasures and Amendments

The Examiners are directed before passing appli-
cations to issue to carefully examine all papers and
see that they are in such shape and condition as to
reduce to a minimum the possibility of error by the
printers. Whenever interlineations or cancellation
have been made in the specification or amendments
which would lead to confusion and mistake, the
Examiners should require the entire portion of speci-
fication affected to be rewritten before passing the
case to issue. (Order 525, Revised.) See Rule 125
in 608.01 (q).

## 1302.03 Erasure of Notations Re- quired

All pencil notes made by the Examiners must be
erased when the case is passed to issue. (Order
560, Revised.)

## 1302.04 Examiner's Amendments and Changes

Except by formal amendment duly signed or as
hereinafter provided, no corrections, erasures, or in-
terlineations may be made in the body of written
portions of the specification or any other paper filed
in the application for patent. [See Rule 121.]

Correction of the following obvious errors and
omissions only may be made with pen by the Exam-
iner of the case who will then initial the sheet mar-
gin and assume full responsibility for the change.
When correcting originally filed papers, clean red
ink must be used (not blue or black ink). The red
fountain pen furnished the Docket Clerk should be
used.

1\. Misspelled words.

2\. Disagreement of a noun with its verb.

3\. Inconsistent "case" of a pronoun.

4\. Disagreement between a reference character as
used in the description and on the drawing. The
character may be corrected in the description but

only when the Examiner is certain of the propriety
of the change.

5\. Entry of "now Patent No. ____. " to identify a
patent which has been granted on a U. S. application
referred by Serial No. in the specification.

Other obvious informalities in the application may
be corrected by the Examiner, but such corrections
must be in the form of an amendment, approved and
signed by the Principal Examiner, placed in the file,
and made a part of the record. A copy of the
amendment is sent to the applicant. The changes
specified in the amendment are entered by the clerk
in the regular way.

No other changes may be made by any person in
any record of this office without the written approval
of the Commissioner of Patents. (Extract from
Order 3141 as modified by Notices of April 18, 1952,
and May 19, 1952.)

Where an application is ready for issue except for
a slight defect in the drawing not involving change
in structure, the Examiner will note in pencil on the
drawing the addition or alteration to be made. He
will also prepare an Examiner's Amendment indi-
cating the changes made and send the drawing to
the Draftsman for the required correction. (Ex-
tract from Order 4009.)

See also 608.02 (w).

In reviewing the application all errors should
be carefully noted. It is not a matter of im-
portance whether the language is the best that
could be chosen; it is, however, essential that it
be clear in meaning, and free from errors in
syntax.

An Examiner's Amendment is usually made
at the time a case is being prepared for issue by
the Examiner, and a copy of the amendment
(Form POL-37) is mailed with the notice of
allowance. However, such amendment may
also be necessary after the proof of the patent
is read and the case is sent up to the Examiner
with a "printer waiting" slip (Form PO-97).
A copy of the amendment is sent to applicant
even if the application is already in the printer's
hands.

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## 1302.04 (a) Title of Invention

Where the title of the invention is not specific
to the invention as claimed, see 606.01.

## 1302.04 (b) Cancellation of Non-Stat- utory Claim

When a case is otherwise in condition for al-
lowance the Examiner may cancel an obviously
non-statutory claim such as one to "A device
substantially as shown and described." Appli-

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cant should be notified of the cancellation of the
claim by an Examiner's Amendment. See
706.03 (h).

# 1302.04 (c) Cancellation of Claims to Non-Elected Invention

See 821.01 and 821.02.

## 1302.04 (d) Cancellation of Claim Lost in Interference See 1109.02.

## 1302.04 (e) Cancellation of Rejected Claims Following Appeal

See 1214.06, 1215.03, and 1215.04.

1302.04 (f) Data of Copending Ap-
plication Referred to
Should Be Brought Up to
Date

Where a patent application which is ready for
issue refers by serial number to a U. S. application
which has matured into a patent, the Examiner is
authorized to enter the patent number without an
Examiner's Amendment. This entry should be in
the following form: "now Patent No. ____. " This
entry is to be initialed in the margin by the Examiner
to fix responsibility for the same. The entry and the
initials should be in red ink. (Extract from Notice
of May 19, 1952.)

If the application referred to has become
abandoned, the entry "and now abandoned"
should be made by a formal Examiner's Amend-
ment. See 1309.01.

### 1302.04 (g) Identification of Claims

In entering an Examiner's Amendment in a claim,
the original number, as well as the number of the
claim as it appears in the allowed application, should
be referred to. (Extract from Notice of August 26,
1929.)

#### 1302.05 Correction of Drawing

Where a case otherwise ready for issue re-
quires correction of the drawing, the Examiner,
before sending the file to the Draftsman, should
attach thereto a slip indicating that the case is
ready for allowance. Slight defects may be
corrected on the Examiner's initiative as set
forth in 608.02 (w) and an Examiner's Amend-
ment prepared as set forth in 1302.04.

#### 1302.06 Prior Foreign Application

On passing to issue any application in which
the requirements of 35 U. S. C. 119 are ap-
parently complied with, the Examiner should
check that the identification of the foreign case
has been entered on the file wrapper. See
201.14 (c).

# 1302.07 Use of Retention Labels to Preserve Abandoned Com- panion Applications

Rule 14 (b). Abandoned applications are likewise
not open to public inspection, except that if an appli-
cation referred to in a United States patent is aban-
doned and is available, it may be inspected or copies
obtained by any person on written request, without
notice to the applicant. Abandoned applications may
be destroyed after twenty years from their filing date,
except those to which particular attention has been
called and which have been marked for preservation,
Abandoned applications will not be returned.

Related applications referred to in patent
specifications are preserved from destruction
by a retention label (Form PO-150) which is
attached to the outside of the file jacket. The
Examiner prepares such a label for use as indi-
cated below on each application (which has not
become a patent) which is referred to in the
specification or oath of the application ready
for allowance (or in any Office letter therein).

If the case referred to is
Still pending:

Fill in and paste label on the face of the
pending file jacket so that no entry is obscured,
preferably in the unused portion of the space
provided for name and address of inventor.
Make no change in specification of the allow-
able application.

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Forfeited:

If file has been forwarded fill in label and
send it to Abandoned Files for attachment to
the jacket. If not forwarded treat the same
as pending case. Make no change in specifi-
cation of the allowable application.
Abandoned:

If file has been forwarded fill in label and
send it to Abandoned Files for attachment to
the jacket. If not forwarded treat the same as
pending case. Make Examiner's Amendment,
adding "now abandoned" in the allowable
application.

Already patented:

No label should be affixed. Insert patent
number if not already stated in specification.
(See Commissioner's Notice of May 19, 1952.)
Examiners are reminded that only one retention
label is necessary. Thus, if a retention label is
already present, it is sufficient to merely add "et al."
to the Serial Number cited thereon. (Extract from
Notice of August 1, 1952.)

## 1302.08 Interference Search

Assuming that the case is found ready for
issue, the Examiner makes an "interference
search." To do this, he inspects all the pending
prints and drawings (or all the digests if the in-
vention is not susceptible of illustration) in the
relevant subclasses of the class in which the ap-
plication is classified, and all other pertinent
classes, whether in his division or elsewhere, in
order to ascertain whether any other applicant
is claiming substantially the same subject mat-
ter as is being allowed in the case in hand.
When any of the drawings or digests shows such
a condition to be likely, he examines the cor-
responding file. See 1101.01 (c).

If the search does not disclose any interfering
application, the Examiner should prepare the
case for issue.

## 1302.09 Notations on File Wrapper

The Examiner fills out in ink the form on the
face of the file wrapper.

In order to avoid misunderstanding on the part
of the Printing Office or the Issue and Gazette
Branch, examiners are urged to be especially careful
to write the class and subclass on the outside of the
file wrapper as legibly as possible. Each numeral
should be carefully written to indicate its precise
nature. The decimal point should be shown clearly
and in its proper position. (Extract from Memo-
randum of July 6, 1952.)

Examiners will ordinarily designate but one claim
on each invention to be published in the Official
Gazette in connection with each original or reissued

patent. The broadest claim should be selected.
When a plurality of inventions are claimed in an
application, additional claims to a maximum of five
may be designated for publication. (Order 2422,
Revised.)

Space is provided on the file wrapper for
identifying data of the parent application. If
the parent case of a division has issued as a pat-
ent, the patent number and date should be in-
serted. The notation "now abandoned" should
not be entered on the file wrapper. Neither
should the patent number and date of the parent
case of a continuation-in-part.

See 202.02.

## 1302.10 Notations on Drawings and on Classification (Issue) Slips

On the margin of the first sheet of drawing,
the Examiner indicates the figure which he
selects for printing in the Official Gazette and
also the final official classification of the case.
Ordinarily a single figure is selected for print-
ing. This figure should be consistent with the
claim selected for the Official Gazette. If there
is no figure illustrative of or helpful in under-
standing the claimed invention, no figure need
be selected. "None" may be written after "O. G.
Fig." On the lower margin, the Examiner
writes the allowance mark (=). See 903.07 and
903.07 (b) for notation to be. applied to the
Classification Slip (Form PO-270).

## 1302.11 Reference to Assignment Branch

Applications filed by an executor or adminis-
trator, or the equivalent, or a guardian of an
insane person, or in which an executor or admin-
istrator or guardian has intervened; or in which
the death of the inventor has been suggested,
and also all divisional, continuation, continua-
tion-in-part, substitute and reissue applications
must be referred to the Assignment Branch be-
fore passing them to issue. All applications
showing an endorsement of an assignment to
the Government or which are prosecuted by at-
torneys known to be employed by the Govern-
ment must be submitted to the Assignment
Branch before the Notice of Allowance is
prepared. (See 409.01 (a) and 306.)

(

## 1302.12 Listing of References

In order that a list of all references cited during
the prosecution of an application for patent may
be available for printing as part of the issued patent,
the Primary Examiner will have listed at the time
the case is being prepared for issue all references

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which have been cited during the prosecution, in-
cluding those appearing in Board of Appeals deci-
sions and pertinent references in motions to dissolve.
When a case is allowed on the first action, the Ex-
aminer should send a letter along with the Notice
of Allowance, citing pertinent art. These references
will be listed on Form PO-98. (Notice of December
19, 1946, Revised.)

Foreign patents are listed by the actual name of
the country, as for example "Great Britain" rather
than "British" and "France" rather than "French".
The name of the foreign country should not be ab-
breviated. (Notice of April 2, 1947, Revised.)

The list of the United States patents must be in
numerical order and where there is more than one
foreign patent from the same country these should
be listed in numerical order. (Memorandum of
August 5, 1947, Revised.)

An English language patent corresponding to a
foreign language patent shall be cited but once and
then in parentheses immediately below the foreign
language patent in the following manner:

FOREIGN PATENTS

Country

Number

Date

France

860,963

Oct. 15, 1940

(Corresponding U. S .- 2,537,757, January 9, 1951.)

The Examiner is not expected to make a special
search for corresponding English language patents.
(Extract from Notice of September 27, 1951.)

In preparing the first Office action in which refer-
ences are cited, the examiner should list the refer-
ences on Form PO-98a (Cumulative Reference List)
in the exact order in which they are to appear in the
finished Office action instead of at the top of his
manuscript draft. Then the body of the Office
action should be written on other sheets of paper in
the usual manner. When typing the Office action,
the typist should type the list of references from
Form PO-98a and then type the body of the Office
action from the examiner's manuscript draft. Form
PO-98a will then be fastened inside the file wrapper
on top of all the papers in the middle section.

In preparing the second or any subsequent Office
action in which additional references are cited, the
examiner will add the new references to his original
list on Form PO-98a separating them by an appro-
priate heading, such as "Paper Number." from the
references previously cited. He will also indicate
at the top of his manuscript draft: "Additional ref-
erence(s)." The typist will then proceed as in the
first Office action in which references are cited,
referring to Form PO-98a for the additional
references.

If, in any action, no references are cited that fact
should be noted on the examiner's manuscript draft
by the notation: "No references." This indicates to

the typist that she need not refer to Form PO-98a.

At the time the application is prepared for issue
the references listed on Form PO-98a will be num-
bered or otherwise arranged in numerical order and
then Form PO-98 can be typed directly from the
information on Form PO-98a. The clerk should
check the references in the individual typewritten
actions against the references on Form PO-98.
After Form PO-98 is completed Form PO-98a may
be destroyed.

While this procedure is to be followed in all new
cases it may be followed in amended cases if all
references previously of record are first listed on
Form PO-98a.

In those instances where an examiner places the
references themselves together with his manuscript
draft in the application file for citation by the typist,
she should make a carbon copy of the cited refer-
ences on Form PO-98a at the time the Office action
is typed. The practice of placing references in the
file for use by the typist is not to be encouraged since
this may make the references unavailable for search
purposes for unduly long periods. (Notice of Sep-
tember 24, 1956.)

In order to avoid possible errors in the listing of
references, the following procedure should always
be followed:

Whenever a reference has been incorrectly cited
in any official paper forming part of an application
file, and such citation has been correctly given in an
ensuing Office action, the Examiner is directed to
correct the error, in ink, in the paper in which the
error appears, and place his initials on the margin
of such paper, together with a notation of the paper
number of the action in which the citation has been
correctly given.

In any case, otherwise ready for issue, in which
the erroneous citation has not been formally cor-
rected in an official paper, the Examiner is directed
to correct the citation by way of an Examiner's
amendment. (Notice of May 13, 1948.)

Where an applicant in an amendatory paper refers
to a reference which is subsequently relied on by the
Examiner, such reference shall be cited by the Exam-
iner in the usual manner. (Notice of December 20,
1946.)

Any new reference cited when the case is in
issue, under the practice of 1308.01, should be
added to the list on Form PO-98.

## 1302.13 Signing

After revision by the clerk and correction of
any discovered informalities, the application
file is signed by the Primary Examiner.

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## 1303 Notice of Allowance

The appropriate form of notice of allowance
is used and the mailing date stamp thereon is
endorsed on the file wrapper.

## 1303.01 Amendment Received After Allowance

If the amendment is filed under Rule 312,
see 714.15 to 714.16 (e). If the amendment
contains claims copied from a patent, see
1101.02 (g).

### 1303.02 Undelivered

In case a notice of allowance is returned, and
a new notice is sent, as set forth in 707.13, the
file is obtained from the Issue and Gazette
Branch, and the date of sending the no-
tice changed to agree with the date of such
remailing.

### 1303.03 Not Withheld Due to Death of Inventor

The notice of allowance will not be withheld
due to death of the inventor even though the
executor or administrator has not intervened.
See 409.01 (f).

### 1304 Withholding From Issue of "Se- crecy Order" Cases

"Secrecy Order" cases are not sent to issue
even when all of the claims have been allowed.
Instead of mailing an ordinary notice of allow-
ance a D-10 Notice is sent. See 107.02.

If the "Secrecy Order" in a case is withdrawn
after the D-10 notice is mailed, the case should
then be treated like an ordinary application in,
condition for allowance.

### 1304.01 Amendments After D-10 No- tice

For amendments received after D-10 Notice,
see 107.02.

### 1305 Jurisdiction

After the notice of allowance is mailed, the
case is sent to the Issue and Gazette Branch.
It is then technically no longer within the juris-
diction of the Primary Examiner. However,
the Examiner may make Examiner's amend-
ments correcting obvious errors, as, when
brought to the attention of the Examiner by
the printer, and also may admit amendments

under Rule 312 which are confined to matters
of form in specification or claims, or to the
cancellation of a claim or claims. The Exam-
iner's action on other amendments under Rule
312 consists of a recommendation to the Com-
missioner.

To regain jurisdiction over the case, the Ex-
aminer must write a letter to the Commissioner
requesting it. See 1308 and 1308.02.

Once the patent has been granted, the Patent
Office can take no action concerning it except as
provided in 35 U. S. C. 135 and 35 U. S. C. 251
through 256. See chapter 14.

### 1306 Public Law 690 Cases See 201.16.

#### 1307 Change in Classification of Cases Which Are in Issue

See 903.07.

#### 1308 Withdrawal From Issue

Rule 313. Withdrawal from issue. After the notice
of allowance of an application is sent, the case will not
be withdrawn from issue except by approval of the
Commissioner, and if withdrawn for further action on
the part of the Office, a new notice of allowance will be
sent if the application is again allowed. When the
final fee has been paid, and the patent to be issued has
received its date and number, the application will not
be withdrawn from issue on account of any mistake or
change of purpose of the applicant, his attorney or his
agent, nor for the purpose of enabling the inventor to
procure a foreign patent, nor for any other reasons
except mistake on the part of the Office, or because of
fraud or illegality in the application, or for inter-
ference. Express abandonment of the application (rule
188) may not be recognized by the Office unless it is
actually received by appropriate officials in time to act
thereon before the date of issue.

If the applicant wishes to have the case with-
drawn from issue, he must petition the Commis-
sioner. Withdrawal is permitted only for the
reasons stated in the rule. For withdrawal
procedure by Examiner see 1308.02.

# 1308.01 Rejection After Allowance

A claim noted as allowable shall thereafter be re-
jected only with the approval of the Primary
Examiner. Great care should be exercised in au-
thorizing such rejection (Order 3157).

When a new reference is discovered, which obvi-
ously is applicable to one or more of the allowed
claims in an application in issue, and where a suffi-

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cient portion of the statutory period for payment of
final fee remains, the Examiner is authorized to
enter a letter informing applicant of the proposal
of requesting withdrawal from issue for the purpose
of rejecting the claim or claims as fully met by, or
obviously unpatentable over, the new reference. The
letter should apply the reference in detail and should
also set a time limit (within such statutory period),
within which applicant may respond by way of argu-
ment or amendment under Rule 312 to overcome the
reference and avoid the necessity for withdrawal
from issue. Such a letter, with the reference and
file, should be submitted to the Supervisory Exam-
iner before mailing. (Notice of March 15, 1950.)

If insufficient time remains to carry out the
above, or if no response is received, or if a
response is filed and it fails to overcome the
reference, or if the above appears fruitless, the
Primary Examiner in a letter addressed to the
Commissioner requests that the application be
withdrawn from issue for the purpose of apply-
ing the new reference. This letter should cite
the reference, and, if need be, briefly state its
application. This letter, with the reference
and file, should be submitted to the Supervisory
Examiner before it is transmitted to the Com-
missioner. Upon approval of this request by
the Commissioner, the letter is taken to the
Issue and Gazette Branch and the application
is stamped "Withdrawn" over the allowance
signature of the Primary Examiner. It is then
returned to the division from which it came;
the clerk enters the withdrawal from the issue
on her register, and the application is thus re-
stored to its former status as a pending appli-
cation awaiting action by the Examiner. "The
Examiner at once writes a letter in the case
stating that the application has been with-
drawn from issue, citing the new reference, and
rejecting the claims met thereby.

If the Examiner's proposed action is not ap-
proved, the letter requesting withdrawal from
issue should not be placed in the file.

## 1308.02 Form of Letter

Where it becomes necessary to withdraw a
case from issue for the purpose of rejecting
claims, the following letter will serve as a
form :

Application of
John Doe
Serial No. 85,963
Washing Machine Withdrawal from Issue
Filed Feb. 14, 1933.
Allowed Mar. 6, 1935

(Date)

Hon. Commissioner of Patents:

SIR: It is requested that the above-entitled
application be withdrawn from issue for the
purpose of rejecting claims in view of the newly
discovered reference, the patent No. ___ to ____.
(Explain, if necessary.)

Respectfully,
Examiner.

# 1308.03 For Interference Purposes

It may be necessary to withdraw a case from
issue for reasons connected with an interference.
For the procedure to be followed see 1101.01
(o) and 1112.04.

# 1309 Issue of Patent

The files of allowed cases (not patented files)
are kept in the Issue and Gazette Branch, ar-
ranged in the serial number order. When the
final fee is paid within the time allowed by law,
the file is given a patent number and date. The
file then goes to the Assignment Branch for
examination as to assignments after which it is
sent to the Government Printing Office for
printing of the specification. A bond paper
copy of the drawing and specification is rib-
boned and sealed in the Issue and Gazette
Branch and finally signed.

35 U. S. C. 153. How issued. Patents shall be issued
in the name of the United States of America, under the
seal of the Patent Office, and shall be signed by the
Commissioner or have his signature placed thereon
and attested by an officer of the Patent Office desig-
nated by the Commissioner, and shall be recorded in
the Patent Office.

In accordance with the Commissioner's No-
tice of July 2, 1952 (661 O. G. 13) various
officials including the head of the Issue and
Gazette Branch have been designated as attest-
ing officer to attest to the name of the Commis-
sioner. The assistant head of the Issue and
Gazette Branch acts as attesting officer in the
absence of unavailability of the head of the
branch.

# 1309.01 "Printer Waiting" Cases

After printing of the specification the proof
is read by employees of the Government Print-
ing Office. Where apparent error is found, the
file with the proof is transmitted to the Exam-
iner, attention being called on an attached
"printer waiting" slip (Form PO-97) to the
supposed errors.

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All "printer waiting" cases must receive immediate
attention and be returned to the Issue and Gazette
Branch as soon as possible (preferably within three
hours). (Extract from Notice of December 6, 1920.)

If the Examiner concurs in the criticisms, the
errors should, if possible, be corrected in clean
red ink and initialed or be corrected by Exami-
ners' amendment. See 1302.04.

If the required correction cannot be cured by
Examiner's amendment, the application may
have to be withdrawn from issue. This may
sometimes be avoided if the attorney or his rep-
resentative is in Washington. In such cases, he
should be called in immediately, and the error
may perhaps be corrected by amendment under
Rule 312.

If the Examiner finds the specification cor-
rect as it stands, he endorses the slip to that
effect.

After correction or checking, the application
file and proof should be promptly returned to
the Issue and Gazette Branch.

(

# 1309.02 Protest Against Issue

Rule 291. Protests to the grant of a patent. The
patent statutes do not provide for opposition to the
grant of a patent on the part of the public. Protests
to the grant of a patent are ordinarily merely ac-
knowledged, and filed after being referred to the ex-
aminer having charge of the subject matter involved
for his information.

When a protest is filed against the issuance of a
patent the same shall, after consideration by the
Examiner, be forwarded to the Supervisory Exam-
iner and shall not be entered in the file of the appli-
cation to which it refers. (Order 1805, Revised.)

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