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A “parent” patent application refers to an inventor’s earlier application disclosing an invention. The “continuing”, related (child) application(s) may receive the benefit of the “parent” application filing date(s) (35 USC 120). Therefore, related (parent) patent applications should always be listed in invention disclosures to establish inventor-ship priority claimed in the continuing application. The term “parent” cannot be used to describe a provisional application.



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