file wrapper

The folder in which the file history is kept. See File History. MPEP 717, MPEP 717.01.

This is the collection of documents located in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office including a patent application and communications by the applicant and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office with respect to the application.

The folder into which papers for a particular application are collected and maintained.

It contains a complete record of proceedings in the USPTO from the filing of the initial patent application to the issued patent. The file wrapper of a patent application that is maintained by the Office is the "official record."