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Dear listmates,</div>
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Does anyone have, or know of, an official document or guideline regarding use of an appendix in a design patent? I've found a single USPTO mention of a design patent appendix, in the Q&A portion of a<a href="https://rev-vbrick.uspto.gov/#/videos/93a61b35-2d17-4d45-a6ae-09e3821ed641" id="LPlnk431293" title="https://rev-vbrick.uspto.gov/#/videos/93a61b35-2d17-4d45-a6ae-09e3821ed641"> USPTO
webinar in 2017</a> (a favorable mention, it may be noted). </div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">As mentioned in the webinar, an appendix can support, for example, an amendment adding a feature missing from a view, among other benefits. An examiner asserts (with reference to MPEP 2163.07(b)) that an
appendix must be explicitly incorporated by reference in order to support an amendment. My quick research suggests, that of nearly 200 published design patents that mention an appendix, only a handful include language explicitly incorporating the appendix
by reference. However, the cited MPEP section references the need to incorporate by reference "information contained
<u>in another document</u>". Is an appendix "another document"? </span><span style="font-size: 16px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Presumably, under the examiner's interpretation, if any of those patents relied for an amendment on
an appendix not explicitly incorporated, they could be invalidated, so this potentially could be a big deal.</span></div>
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Best regards,</p>
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-Jim</p>
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<span style="color: rgb(89, 89, 89);"><b> </b></span></p>
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<span style="color: rgb(89, 89, 89);"><b>James C. Larsen<br>
</b></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; color: rgb(89, 89, 89);">Attorney</span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; color: rgb(47, 84, 150);"><b><i>Larsen IP PLLC</i></b></span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;">p: 425.298.6846</span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;">e: </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><a href="mailto:jim@Larsen-IP.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">jim@Larsen-IP.com</a></span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;">w. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://www.larsen-ip.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">www.Larsen-IP.com</a></span></p>
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