¶ 6.56 Notify Applicant of Office Treatment of a Third-Party Submission
A third-party submission has been filed under 37 CFR 1.99 on [1] in the published application.
To ensure that a third-party submission does not amount to a protest or pre-grant opposition, 37 CFR 1.99 does not permit the third party to have the right to insist that the examiner consider any of the patents or publications submitted. Furthermore, if the submission or part of the submission is not in compliance with 37 CFR 1.99, that noncompliant submission or part thereof will not be entered in the application file. Therefore, unless the examiner clearly cites a patent or publication on form PTO-892, Notice of References Cited and such reference is used in a rejection or its relevance is actually discussed during prosecution, consideration by the examiner of any patent or publication submitted in a third-party submission cannot be presumed.
If the applicant wants to ensure that the information in a third-party submission is considered by the examiner, the applicant should submit the information in an IDS in compliance with 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98. An individual who has a duty to disclose under 37 CFR 1.56 should also submit any material information contained in a third-party submission to the Office in an IDS in compliance with 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98 to ensure such material information is properly disclosed to the examiner.
Examiner Note:
1. In bracket 1, insert the date that the Office received the submission.