[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: 37CFR5.3]

[Page 241]
 
              TITLE 37--PATENTS, TRADEMARKS, AND COPYRIGHTS
 
  CHAPTER I--UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE, DEPARTMENT OF 
                                COMMERCE
 
PART 5--SECRECY OF CERTAIN INVENTIONS AND LICENSES TO EXPORT AND FILE 
APPLICATIONS IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 5.3  Prosecution of application under secrecy orders; withholding 
patent.

    Unless specifically ordered otherwise, action on the application by 
the Office and prosecution by the applicant will proceed during the time 
an application is under secrecy order to the point indicated in this 
section:
    (a) National applications under secrecy order which come to a final 
rejection must be appealed or otherwise prosecuted to avoid abandonment. 
Appeals in such cases must be completed by the applicant but unless 
otherwise specifically ordered by the Commissioner for Patents will not 
be set for hearing until the secrecy order is removed.
    (b) An interference will not be declared involving national 
applications under secrecy order. However, if an applicant whose 
application is under secrecy order seeks to provoke an interference with 
an issued patent, a notice of that fact will be placed in the file 
wrapper of the patent. (See Sec. 1.607(d))
    (c) When the national application is found to be in condition for 
allowance except for the secrecy order the applicant and the agency 
which caused the secrecy order to be issued will be notified. This 
notice (which is not a notice of allowance under Sec. 1.311 of this 
chapter) does not require reply by the applicant and places the national 
application in a condition of suspension until the secrecy order is 
removed. When the secrecy order is removed the Patent and Trademark 
Office will issue a notice of allowance under Sec. 1.311 of this 
chapter, or take such other action as may then be warranted.
    (d) International applications under secrecy order will not be 
mailed, delivered or otherwise transmitted to the international 
authorities or the applicant. International applications under secrecy 
order will be processed up to the point where, if it were not for the 
secrecy order, record and search copies would be transmitted to the 
international authorities or the applicant.

(Pub. L. 94-131, 89 Stat. 685)

[43 FR 20470, May 11, 1978, as amended at 53 FR 23736, June 23, 1988; 62 
FR 53203, Oct. 10, 1997]