Question: Do I need to submit prior art with my patent application?

This is for a design patent. Is it required to submit prior art with my application? If it’s not required are there benefits in including it with the application?

Answer: All applicants for a patent have a legal duty to disclose to the patent office prior art that is material to the patentability of their invention. What specific prior art must be disclosed is not a black and white answer. Therefore, many applicants err on the side of disclosing, rather than not disclosing.

The benefit to disclosing prior art is that your patent application goes through a more rigorous examination. In turn, this increases the “strength” of your patent.