What is a divisional patent application?
A divisional patent application may be filed to divide a patent application into two or more patent applications from a “parent” application. The divisional patent application will proceed as a separate application and undergo separate examination. A first divisional patent application is termed a “child” application, and a second or further divisional patent application is termed a “grandchild” application (and “great-grandchild”, etc, for further divisionals) if derived from the first divisional application, although this nomenclature is somewhat informal. In some jurisdictions this practice is termed a “cascade of divisional applications”. A divisional patent application usually inherits the priority rights from the parent application, which in turn derives priority rights from any priority application(s). Read more