MPEP Section 818.02(b), Generic Claims Only - No Election of Species

Executive summary:

This document contains Section 818.02(b) ("Generic Claims Only - No Election of Species ") 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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818.02(b) Generic Claims Only - No Election of Species [R-3]

Where only generic claims are first presented and prosecuted in an application in which no election of a single invention has been made, and applicant later presents species claims to more than one >patentably distinct< species of the invention, **>the examiner may require applicant to elect< a single species. The practice of requiring election of species in cases with only generic claims of the unduly extensive and burdensome search type is set forth in MPEP § 808.01(a).