MPEP Section 714.21, Amendments Inadvertently Entered, No Legal Effect

Executive summary:

This document contains one section of the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (the "M.P.E.P."), Eighth Edition, Fifth Revision (August 2006). This page was last updated in July 2007. You may return to the section index to find a particular section. Alternatively, you may search the MPEP use the search box that appears on the bottom of every page of BitLaw--be sure to restrict your search to the MPEP in the pop-up list.

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714.21 Amendments Inadvertently Entered, No Legal Effect

If the technical support staff inadvertently enters an amendment when it should not have been entered, such entry is of no legal effect, and the same action is taken as if the changes had not been actually made, inasmuch as they have not been legally made. Unless such unauthorized entry is deleted, suitable notation should be made on the margin of the amendatory paper, as "Not Officially Entered." >For Image File Wrapper (IFW) processing, see IFW Manual.<

If an amendatory paper is to be retained in the file, even though not entered, it should be given a paper number and listed on the file wrapper with the notation "Not Entered." See 37 CFR 1.3 and MPEP § 714.25 for an example of a paper which may be *>denied entry<.