What happens to claims linked in a restriction requirement?

When a restriction requirement is issued, it indicates that the claims in a patent application must be divided into distinct groups because they may not be examined together. This happens when the examiner believes that the claims encompass independent and distinct inventions.

The key outcome of a restriction requirement is that the applicant must elect one group of claims for examination while the others are effectively put on hold. However, these non-elected claims are not discarded; they remain part of the application and may be evaluated together with the claims that have been elected. The non-elected claims can be brought back into consideration if the elected claims are found to be allowable. This process allows for a more efficient examination by focusing on one invention at a time without losing the context of the other claims that were not immediately examined.

In summary, the claims linked in a restriction requirement are associated with the elected claims, and they remain available for future evaluation alongside them, which makes the answer regarding their evaluation with the elected material correct.