MPEP § 2424.03 — Additional Miscellaneous Requirements

Ninth Edition, Revision 01.2024 · last revised R-07.2022

[Editor Note: This section is not applicable to applications filed on or after July 1, 2022, having disclosures of nucleotide and/or amino acid sequences as defined in 37 CFR 1.831(b). See MPEP §§ 2412-2419 for guidance on WIPO ST.26 requirements for applications filed on or after July 1, 2022.]

Throughout 37 CFR 1.823(a), the items of information relating to patent applications and patent publications should be provided keeping in mind the appropriate standards that have been established by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). In general, an application should be identified by a country code, a number and a filing date, while a published patent document should be identified by a country code, a number and kind code. Proper citation of priority patent applications is covered in MPEP § 214.04. For published patent documents, the country code, number and kind code will appear on the front page of the document. Unpublished PCT applications are identified by the letters PCT, the country code of the Receiving Office, and the four digit year of filing and a six digit number, e.g., PCT/SE2011/000123. A published PCT application is identified by the letters WO, the four digit year of publication and a six digit number, e.g. WO/2015/009167. Country codes from WIPO Standard ST.3 Annex A and kind codes from WIPO Standard ST.16 are accessible on WIPO’s website (www.wipo.int/standards/en/part_03_standards.html). See also MPEP § 1851. Questions on proper citation of patent documents should be directed to staff in the Office of International Patent Legal Administration.

See Appendix G to Subpart G of Part 1 of the CFR (reproduced in MPEP § 2424) for information regarding numeric identifiers.

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