Law - Petition From Restriction/Election Requirement

An Examiner may require that the claims in a patent application be restricted to a single "independent and distinct" invention. Disagreements concerning restriction requirements that cannot be resolved by negotiation are resolved by petition. A petition to the Commissioner must be filed before the appeal date, i.e., the date that a notice of appeal is received by the USPTO mail room.

The position of the USPTO on this issue is described in the following section(s) of the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP):

MPEP 818.03(c) - Must Traverse To Preserve Right of Petition

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