[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 37, Volume 1]
[Revised as of July 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 37CFR1.63]

[Page 58-59]
 
              TITLE 37--PATENTS, TRADEMARKS, AND COPYRIGHTS
 
  CHAPTER I--UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE, DEPARTMENT OF 
                                COMMERCE
 
PART 1--RULES OF PRACTICE IN PATENT CASES--Table of Contents
 
                Subpart B--National Processing Provisions
 
Sec. 1.63  Oath or declaration.

    (a) An oath or declaration filed under Sec. 1.51(b)(2) as a part of 
a nonprovisional application must:
    (1) Be executed, i.e., signed, in accordance with either Sec. 1.66 
or Sec. 1.68. There is no minimum age for a person to be qualified to 
sign, but the person must be competent to sign, i.e., understand the 
document that the person is signing;
    (2) Identify each inventor by full name, including the family name, 
and at least one given name without abbreviation together with any other 
given name or initial;
    (3) Identify the country of citizenship of each inventor; and
    (4) State that the person making the oath or declaration believes 
the named inventor or inventors to be the original and first inventor or 
inventors of the subject matter which is claimed and for which a patent 
is sought.
    (b) In addition to meeting the requirements of paragraph (a) of this 
section, the oath or declaration must also:
    (1) Identify the application to which it is directed;
    (2) State that the person making the oath or declaration has 
reviewed and understands the contents of the application, including the 
claims, as amended by any amendment specifically referred to in the oath 
or declaration; and
    (3) State that the person making the oath or declaration 
acknowledges the duty to disclose to the Office all information known to 
the person to be material to patentability as defined in Sec. 1.56.
    (c) Unless such information is supplied on an application data sheet 
in accordance with Sec. 1.76, the oath or declaration must also 
identify:
    (1) The mailing address, and the residence if an inventor lives at a 
location which is different from where the inventor customarily receives 
mail, of each inventor; and

[[Page 59]]

    (2) Any foreign application for patent (or inventor's certificate) 
for which a claim for priority is made pursuant to Sec. 1.55, and any 
foreign application having a filing date before that of the application 
on which priority is claimed, by specifying the application number, 
country, day, month, and year of its filing.
    (d)(1) A newly executed oath or declaration is not required under 
Sec. 1.51(b)(2) and Sec. 1.53(f) in a continuation or divisional 
application, provided that:
    (i) The prior nonprovisional application contained an oath or 
declaration as prescribed by paragraphs (a) through (c) of this section;
    (ii) The continuation or divisional application was filed by all or 
by fewer than all of the inventors named in the prior application;
    (iii) The specification and drawings filed in the continuation or 
divisional application contain no matter that would have been new matter 
in the prior application; and
    (iv) A copy of the executed oath or declaration filed in the prior 
application, showing the signature or an indication thereon that it was 
signed, is submitted for the continuation or divisional application.
    (2) The copy of the executed oath or declaration submitted under 
this paragraph for a continuation or divisional application must be 
accompanied by a statement requesting the deletion of the name or names 
of the person or persons who are not inventors in the continuation or 
divisional application.
    (3) Where the executed oath or declaration of which a copy is 
submitted for a continuation or divisional application was originally 
filed in a prior application accorded status under Sec. 1.47, the copy 
of the executed oath or declaration for such prior application must be 
accompanied by:
    (i) A copy of the decision granting a petition to accord Sec. 1.47 
status to the prior application, unless all inventors or legal 
representatives have filed an oath or declaration to join in an 
application accorded status under Sec. 1.47 of which the continuation or 
divisional application claims a benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 
365(c); and
    (ii) If one or more inventor(s) or legal representative(s) who 
refused to join in the prior application or could not be found or 
reached has subsequently joined in the prior application or another 
application of which the continuation or divisional application claims a 
benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c), a copy of the subsequently 
executed oath(s) or declaration(s) filed by the inventor or legal 
representative to join in the application.
    (4) Where the power of attorney (or authorization of agent) or 
correspondence address was changed during the prosecution of the prior 
application, the change in power of attorney (or authorization of agent) 
or correspondence address must be identified in the continuation or 
divisional application. Otherwise, the Office may not recognize in the 
continuation or divisional application the change of power of attorney 
(or authorization of agent) or correspondence address during the 
prosecution of the prior application.
    (5) A newly executed oath or declaration must be filed in a 
continuation or divisional application naming an inventor not named in 
the prior application.
    (e) A newly executed oath or declaration must be filed in any 
continuation-in-part application, which application may name all, more, 
or fewer than all of the inventors named in the prior application.

(35 U.S.C. 6, Pub. L. 97-247)

[48 FR 2711, Jan. 20, 1983; 48 FR 4285, Jan. 31, 1983, as amended at 57 
FR 2034, Jan. 17, 1992; 60 FR 20225, Apr. 25, 1995; 62 FR 53188, Oct. 
10, 1997; 65 FR 54667, Sept. 8, 2000]