Item

Description

Application Number

The serial number assigned to your application. This number must be used for any communication with the patent office. It contains a two-digit series numbers followed by a slash, and a 6-digit serial number. The serial numbers repeat from series to series, so you must need the full number to identify the application.

Filing Date

The official filing date for the patent application. Make sure that this is the same with all your records. I

f this field is blank it indicates that there is a problem and that you forgot to submit something required for the application.

Group Art Unit

Patent Office Examiners are organized into “Technology Centers”. These Technology Centers are further divided into “Art Units”. Different Art Units handle different types of invention, as defined by the USPTO’s classification system.

Filing Fee Received

This is the amount of money the USPTO received on filing the application. This does not include any fees for recording an assignment.

Atty Docket

A number assigned by a law firm to an attorney for identification purposes. Only applies to applications filed by a patent attorney.

Total Claims/Independent Claims

The total number of claims involved in the application. This determines the filing fee. 

Confirmation Number

An additional number that the USPTO uses to make sure that any papers filed later properly assigned. You will need this number for any pieces of paperwork you file from now on.

Correspondence Address and Customer Number

Any USPTO mailings regarding the application will be sent to this address. The 5-digit number above the address is the “Customer Number”. Most law firms and certain other large corporations will have these numbers that allow a number of attorneys and a single address to be associated with their firm. When a change is made to the customer number, this will alter all of the firm’s or company’s cases at the same time.

The customer number can also be used in accessing the USPTO “Private PAIR” system. This allows a firm to track the status of all their cases.

Individuals may acquire customer numbers, but it is typically unnecessary.

(Form Paragraph)

This is the main content of the form with instructions on how to make amendments or changes. For nonprovisional applications, make sure that the type of application is correctly reported

Date Mailed

This is the date the USPTO sent the receipt out in the mail. It typically takes four months or so for a filing receipt to be mailed.

Applicant(s)

Until September 16, 2012, the terms “inventor” and “applicant” were considered equivalent. The “applicant” field would list the name and residence (city and state) of all inventors.

For applications filed after September 16, 2012, where the

application was assigned to a company, the company name will be listed on the filing receipt in this section. Otherwise, the applicants and inventors are the same.

Inventor(s)

For applications filed after September 16, 2012 there will be a separate listing of inventors in addition to the applicants. Now is the time to make any corrections if any inventors are missing, or if there are any mistakes.

Assignment for Published Patent Application

The application will be published 18 months after its priority date. If you provided information on an assignment in the Application Data Sheet (ADS) when the application was filed, it will appear here.

Filing an assignment will not automatically cause the assignee's name to be put on the published application or on the issued patent. It is up to you to inform the USPTO on the ADS if you would like the assignee name to be published.

Power of Attorney

Only those given a power of attorney are allowed to correspond with the USPTO about the application or to file papers. Any attorney or law firm listed in the ADS or in the declaration will appear here.

Domestic Priority data as claimed by Applications

This is where any previous patents will be listed upon which the current applications depends. For example, this is where you would find listed any provisional application or any continuation or CIP listed.

Foreign Applications

Similar to Domestic Priority data above, but as it applies to a foreign patent application.

Permission to access

An applicant has the option to grant permission to foreign patent offices to access the application. This can save time expenses by saving you the trouble of buying a certified copy and sending it to them.

If you gave permission, it will be noted here. Note that it should have been accomplished in the Application Data Sheet.

Foreign Filing License

United States law requires that all US applicants get a “Foreign Filing License" prior to filing applications in other countries for national security screening purposes. This is usually granted as a matter f course when an application is filed, except in circumstances where the application deals with defense-related technologies

If the PTO believes that it is a matter of security, you will receive a notice prior to this that the application is subjected to a security order. This is not something you are likely to see unless you work for a defense contractor.

Projected Publication Date

US utility patent applications are published 18 months after the earliest filing date. If you file the utility patent a year after filing a provisional application, it will be published about 6 months after it is filed, or 18 months after the provisional application filing date.

Non-Publication/Early Publication

Changing the normal 18-month publication schedule is possible. If you filed a request for the application not to be published, or that it should be published earlier than the common 18 months, always make sure that it is acknowledged in this section

If your request for non-publication or early publication is not listed here, you can expect it to be published at the usual time unless you correct the mistake.

For more information on patent publications, visit our Patents FAQ page.

**SMALL ENTITY**

“Small Entities” are individuals, not-for-profits, or companies with less than 500 employees. They are qualified for reduced fees. If you are a “Small Entity” and have not assigned or licensed your rights to a “Large Entity”, remember to check that this is acknowledged on the filing receipt so that you will be charged the appropriate rates.

Title

This is the title of the application, as listed on the cover sheet or ADS when filed.

Preliminary Class

The United State Patent and Trademark Office classifies each invention into one general class of technology, and into one or more “subclasses”. New applications should be assigned a classification under the Cooperative Patent Classification system (CPC), rather than the US Class shown above.

To know more about the classification system, visit our page on How to Read a Patent. For class and subclass information, visit the USPTO website.