Sample
What a citation report contains
This sample uses placeholder values so no real company is depicted. A real report fills every field from the public USPTO file and links to each source.
PriorBeacon citation report · generated [date] · order #[n]
USPTO examiner citation of US X,XXX,XXX as § 102 prior art
[Title of your patent] · owner of record: [Your company]
About this report / Not legal advice / Warning about demand letters — three short paragraphs stating that we are a private company, that every fact is drawn from public USPTO records as of the retrieval time, that nothing in the report is an opinion on infringement, validity or value, and that bad-faith patent-assertion laws apply to demand letters.
1. The office action
- Type
- Non-Final Rejection, mailed [Month D, YYYY]
- Rejection
- 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(1) (anticipation) — claims 1–5 and 9
- Reference relied on
- US X,XXX,XXX — [title]
- Examiner / art unit
- [Examiner name] / [art unit]
- Applicant's reply period
- Typically three months, i.e. about [date], extendable
- Public file
- Patent Center link
2. Examiner's rejection text
Claim(s) 1-5 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by [Your surname] et al. (US X,XXX,XXX). Regarding claim 1, [Your surname] discloses … (col. 3, ll. 10–25) …
3. The pending application
- Application number
- 1X/XXX,XXX
- Publication
- US 20XX/0XXXXXX A1, published [date] — link
- Title
- [Application title]
- Filing date
- [date]
- Status
- Non-final action mailed
- Entity status
- Small entity
4. Applicant / owner of record
- Applicant
- [Applicant company name]
- Correspondence address of record
- [Street]
[City], [ST] [ZIP] - Attorney / agent of record
- [Name] (USPTO reg. no. XX,XXX)
[Firm] - Inventors
- [Names, city/state]
5. Your patent, as the USPTO records it
- Granted / filed
- [dates]
- Owner of record
- [Your company], reel/frame, recorded [date]
- Status
- In force (per USPTO status at retrieval)
6. Sources
A table linking every section to the USPTO office-action publication, Patent Center, and Assignment Center records used.
7. If you want to follow this application
How to watch the file in Patent Center, and a reminder to involve a registered patent attorney.