Restriction Requirements

An application may claim more than one invention. If it does, the examiner should require the applicant to elect only one for examination.

Example: Suppose inventor Ogg invented the wheel, and went on to invent the spoked wheel and the rubber tire. The claims in his application might be:

  1. A wheel having spokes.
  2. A wheel having a rubber tire.
The examiner would require Ogg to elect between inventions 1 and 2. Only claims for the elected invention can be allowed. A divisional application may be filed for the non-elected invention.

Now suppose there were a broad "umbrella" claim covering all the species:

  1. A wheel.
  2. A wheel having spokes.
  3. A wheel having a rubber tire.
Here claims 2 and 3 are species of the invention defined by claim 1. The examiner, suspecting claim 1 may not be patentable, will require Ogg provisionally to elect one of the species for examination. The result is the same, except that if claim 1 is found to be patentable, all three claims will be allowed.