Model Patent Prosecution Templates

AIPLA's Patent Law Committee maintains a collection of sample documents related to day-to-day patent prosecution.  These documents are exemplary and may not be ideal for every situation. Use them at your own risk.*

Member log-in required to access files.  

---

Model Response Shells:

Each of these documents contains a comprehensive shell document that can be used to formulate a response to 35 U.S.C. 112, 102, 103, or 101 rejections made by a patent examiner during prosecution.

• 112 Response Shell (Doc) (PDF)
  

Model Appeal Brief (updated 3/2026): (Doc)  (PDF)

This document contains the overall structure of appeal brief with a section for drafting responses to point out error in rejections made in 35 U.S.C. 112, 102, 103, 101, and obviousness-type double patenting rejections.  The model appeal brief includes summaries of the relevant portions of the PTAB’s designated informative and precedential decisions applicable to ex parte appeals along with associated Federal Circuit case law.

Model Reply Brief(updated 3/2026): (Doc)  (PDF)

This document contains the overall structure of a reply brief along with relevant case law summaries to use for handling new grounds of rejection in an Examiner’s Answer. 

 

*Nothing included in these sample documents or elsewhere on this site should be considered legal advise on the part of AIPLA or any of its members.