37 CFR 1.51 — General requisites of an application

Ninth Edition, Revision 01.2024

• (a) Applications for patents must be made to the Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. An application transmittal letter limited to the transmittal of the documents and fees comprising a patent application under this section may be signed by a juristic applicant or patent owner.
• (b) A complete application filed under § 1.53(b) or § 1.53(d) comprises:
  • (1) A specification as prescribed by 35 U.S.C. 112 , including a claim or claims, see §§ 1.71 to 1.77 ;
  • (2) The inventor’s oath or declaration, see §§ 1.63 and 1.64 ;
  • (3) Drawings, when necessary, see §§ 1.81 to 1.85 ; and
  • (4) The prescribed filing fee, search fee, examination fee, and application size fee, see § 1.16 .
• (c) A complete provisional application filed under § 1.53(c) comprises:
  • (1) A cover sheet identifying:
    • (i) The application as a provisional application,
    • (ii) The name or names of the inventor or inventors, (see § 1.41(a)(2) ),
    • (iii) The residence of each named inventor,
    • (iv) The title of the invention,
    • (v) The name and registration number of the attorney or agent (if applicable),
    • (vi) The docket number used by the person filing the application to identify the application (if applicable),
    • (vii) The correspondence address, and
    • (viii) The name of the U.S. Government agency and Government contract number (if the invention was made by an agency of the U.S. Government or under a contract with an agency of the U.S. Government);
  • (2) A specification as prescribed by 35 U.S.C. 112(a) , see § 1.71 ;
  • (3) Drawings, when necessary, see §§ 1.81 to 1.85 ; and
  • (4) The prescribed filing fee and application size fee, see § 1.16 .
• (d) Applicants are encouraged to file an information disclosure statement in nonprovisional applications. See § 1.97 and § 1.98 . No information disclosure statement may be filed in a provisional application.

[42 FR 5593, Jan. 28, 1977; paras. (a) and (c), 47 FR 41272, Sept. 17, 1982, effective Oct. 1, 1982; paras. (a) and (b), 48 FR 2696, Jan. 20, 1983, effective Feb. 27, 1983; para. (b), 57 FR 2021, Jan. 17, 1992, effective Mar. 16, 1992; paras. (a) & (b) revised, 60 FR 20195, Apr. 25, 1995, effective June 8, 1995; revised, 62 FR 53132, Oct. 10, 1997, effective Dec. 1, 1997; para. (b) revised, 65 FR 54604, Sept. 8, 2000, effective Nov. 7, 2000; para. (a) revised, 68 FR 14332, Mar. 25, 2003, effective May 1, 2003; paras. (b)(4) and (c)(4) revised, 70 FR 3880, Jan. 27, 2005, effective Dec. 8, 2004; para. (c)(2) revised, 77 FR 46615, Aug. 6, 2012, effective Sept. 16, 2012; para. (b)(2) revised, 77 FR 48776, Aug. 14, 2012, effective Sept. 16, 2012; para. (a) revised, 78 FR 62368, Oct. 21, 2013, effective Dec. 18, 2013]