In what scenario would an applicant file a petition to request a date of submission as the filing date?

In the context of patent law, the filing date is critical as it establishes the priority of an application. An applicant would file a petition to request a date of submission as the filing date typically when certain required documents are omitted initially but are submitted later.

When omitted pages of an application are filed and they include essential information that was not initially present, filing a petition can help ensure that the effective filing date is recognized as the date when the original submission was made, rather than the date the omitted pages were submitted. This is particularly significant in establishing priority over other applications that may have been submitted after the original application.

The other scenarios involve actions that do not inherently justify a request for a specific filing date. Adding new claims or changing inventors does not retroactively change the filing date of an application; instead, these actions may require additional filings or amendments without affecting when the application was initially accepted and considered filed. Therefore, the situation regarding omitted pages is specifically aligned with the intent of creating or validating an earlier filing date.