MPEP Section 713.02, Interviews Prior to First Official Action

Executive summary:

This document contains Section 713.02 ("Interviews Prior to First Official Action") 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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713.02 Interviews Prior to First Official Action [R-6]

A request for an interview prior to the first Office action is ordinarily granted in continuing or substitute applications. In all other applications, an interview before the first Office action **>is encouraged where< the examiner determines that such an interview would advance prosecution of the application. Thus, the examiner may require that an applicant requesting an interview before the first Office action provide a paper that includes a general statement of the state of the art at the time of the invention, and an identification of no more than three (3) references believed to be the "closest" prior art and an explanation as to how the broadest claim distinguishes over such references. See 37 CFR 1.133(a).

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