(a) An applicant for patent or patent owner may file and prosecute the applicant's or patent owner's own case, or the applicant or patent owner may give power of attorney so as to be represented by one or more patent practitioners or joint inventors, except that the following persons or entities must be represented by a patent practitioner:
(1) a juristic entity (e.g., organizational assignee);
(2) an applicant as defined in § 1.42, in which the domicile of at least one of the parties identified as the applicant in the application is not located within the United States or its territories; and
(3) a patent owner, in which the domicile of at least one of the parties identified as the patent owner is not located within the United States or its territories.
(b) The Office cannot aid in the selection of a patent practitioner.
[91 FR 13519, Mar. 20, 2026]
Notes of Decisions
Wright v. Rinaldo, 761 N.W.2d 114 (Mich. Ct. App. 2008).
· cites it 2× “" 37 CFR 1.31. The power of attorney in a patent case serves exactly the same function as an appearance: When a patent practitioner acting in a representative capacity appears in person or signs a paper in practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office in a patent…”
Sperry v. Florida Ex Rel. Florida Bar, 373 U.S. 379 (1963).
“” 37 CFR § 1.31 . (Emphasis added.) The current regulations establish two separate registers “on which are entered the names of all persons recognized as entitled to represent applicants before the Patent Office in the preparation and prosecution of applications for patent.”
Augustine v. Dep't of Vets. Affairs, 429 F.3d 1334 (Fed. Cir. 2005).
“31 (b) (2004) (Merit Systems Protection Board); 37 C.F.R. § 1.31 (2004) (Patent and Trademark Office); 29 C.”
In Re Amalgamated Dev. Co., Inc., 375 A.2d 494 (D.C. 1977).
“37 C.F.R. § 1.31 (1976). 4 To represent another before the Commissioner of Patents, however, the requirements set out in the regulations established by the Commissioner pursuant to 35 U.”
Janson v. LegalZoom. Com, Inc., 802 F. Supp. 2d 1053 (W.D. Mo. 2011).
“With respect to patents, 37 C.F.R. § 1.31 states that an applicant may file and prosecute his own case or “may give a power of attorney so as to be represented by one or more patent practitioners or joint inventors.”
Tube-mac Indus., Inc. v. Campbell (W.D. Pa. 2020).
· cites it 3× “The power of attorney relied upon by Plaintiffs further provides: This collection of information is required by 37 CFR 1.31, 1.32. and 1.33. The information is required to obtain or retain a benefit by the public which is to file (and by the USPTO to process) an application.”
Tube-Mac Indus., Inc. v. Campbell (E.D. Va. 2020).
· cites it 3× “The power of attorney relied upon by Plaintiffs further provides: This collection of information is required by 37 CFR 1.31, 1.32. and 1.33. The information is required to obtain or retain a benefit by the public which is to file (and by the USPTO to process) an application.”
Svatovic v. United States Pat. & Trademark Off., 617 F. App'x 100 (2d Cir. 2015).
“Although the right to prosecute a patent application on one’s own behalf is protected by regulation, see 37 C.F.R. § 1.31 , and although an assertion of intentional denials of a patent or delays in the PTO review process based on a party’s pro se status might therefore give rise…”
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