MPEP Section 320, Title Reports

Executive summary:

This document contains Section 320 ("Title Reports") of the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (the "M.P.E.P."), Eighth Edition, Eighth Revision (July 2010). This page was last updated in January 2011. You may return to the section index to find a particular section. Alternatively, you may search the MPEP using the search box that appears on the left side of every page of BitLaw--you may restrict your search to the MPEP on the search results page.

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320 Title Reports [R-5]

The "title report" is a form which can be used under certain circumstances by the Assignment Division to report to someone within the Office the name of the owner of an application or patent as shown by the Assignment Division records on the date the title report is made. For example, a title report is requested by the Reexamination Preprocessing Staff when a request for reexamination is filed. Title reports may not be ordered by applicants or attorneys.

Information as to the title is not normally required by the examiner to examine an application. It is only in limited circumstances when the ownership becomes an issue and an examiner needs a title report. See MPEP § 303. Examiners may obtain a title report using the PALM Intranet >(select "General Information," insert the appropriate application number, select "Search," select "Assignments")<. The screen resulting from the search may be printed to yield the copy of the title report.

NOTE: The public can request a certified abstract of title. The fee for this service is set forth at 37 CFR 1.19(b)(4). See MPEP § 301.01 for a discussion of which assignment records are publicly available.