320 Title Reports [R-01.2024]
The “title report” is a form which can be used under certain circumstances by the Assignment Recordation Branch to report to someone within the Office the name of the owner of an application or patent as shown by the Assignment Recordation Branch records on the date the title report is made. For example, a title report is requested by the Reexamination Preprocessing Staff when a request for reexamination is filed. Title reports may not be ordered by applicants or attorneys.
Information as to the title is not normally required by the examiner to examine an application. It is only in limited circumstances when the ownership becomes an issue and an examiner needs a title report. See MPEP § 303. Examiners may obtain a title report using the Patent Data Portal (select “General Information,” insert the appropriate application number, select Search, select “Assignments”). The screen resulting from the search may be printed to yield the copy of the title report.
NOTE: The public can request a certified abstract of title. The fee for this service is set forth at 37 CFR 1.19(b)(4). See MPEP § 301.01 for a discussion of which assignment records are publicly available.
