Section11(35 U.S.C.11) of the U.S. Patent Law clearly stipulates that the patent application shall be submitted in writing by the inventor or his authorized person; All related expenses shall be paid within the statutory time limit. Therefore, the four elements of the US patent application are: 1. Description (i.e. description of the invention and at least one claim); Second, the appended drawings (if necessary); 3. Oath or statement (usually signed by the inventor); 4. Expenses (legally payable expenses). Among them, the first two elements are the basic conditions for obtaining the application date.
USPTO patent application approval process:
The inventor or his authorized person submits an application to the USPTO acceptance department for acceptance, determines the date of receipt and gives the application number → the application department conducts formal review and determines the application date, and completes document processing and data collection. At the same time, the right transfer department handles the related affairs of right transfer → classification → assigning the application to the audit department for audit according to the classification number. The review process mainly includes: 1) formal review and retrieval, 2) substantive review, 3) applicant's defense, 4) review, and 5) making a final decision. Those who are dissatisfied with the decision can appeal to the Patent Appeal and Conflict Committee.
Before the amendment of the United States Patent Law 1999, it was stipulated that patent applications should not be made public before authorization, and USPTO was responsible for confidentiality. In order to be consistent with GATT, the revised Patent Law of the United States (1999) stipulates that the patent application shall be published immediately after the expiration of 18 months from the filing date or priority date, and the applicant may also request to publish it in advance.