A preissuance submission provides a mechanism for third parties to submit patents, published patent applications, or other printed publications of potential relevance to the examination of a patent application. If accepted, the disclosure of relevance will be included into the record of the patent application.

This new provision is effective September 16, 2012, and will apply to any patent application.

A concise explanation of the asserted relevance of each document submitted may be included along with a listing of the patents, published patent applications, or other printed publications of relevance. The concise explanation cannot propose the rejection of the claims. Instead, it should only include facts explaining how the item is relevant to the examination of the application. 

Any member of the public may file a third-party submission. This includes corporations and private individuals. However, the applicant or any person with a duty to disclose information may not send in a preissuance submission. Individuals with a duty to disclose are already bound to disclose all presently known information about the patentability of the subject matter within the application. 

A preissuance submission may be made in any utility, design or plant application. They may also be entered into any continuing application.

These submissions may be made by the later of 6 months after the date of publication or the date of a first Office action, or before the date of a Notice of Allowance, if earlier.