37 CFR § 11.506 - Restrictions on right to practice.

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t37/s11.506"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "37 CFR § 11.506 - Restrictions on right to practice."
title_number: 37
title_name: "Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights"
section_number: "11.506"
section_name: "Restrictions on right to practice."
chapter_name: "UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE"
subchapter_number: "A"
subchapter_name: "GENERAL"
part_number: "11"
part_name: "REPRESENTATION OF OTHERS BEFORE THE UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-04-05"
last_updated: "2026-04-05"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "5 U.S.C. 500; 15 U.S.C. 1123; 35 U.S.C. 2(b)(2), 32, 41; Sec. 1, Pub. L. 113-227, 128 Stat. 2114."
regulatory_source: "69 FR 35452, June 24, 2004, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "11"
---


# 11.506 Restrictions on right to practice.

A practitioner shall not participate in offering or making:

(a) A partnership, shareholders, operating, employment, or other similar type of agreement that restricts the right of a practitioner to practice after termination of the relationship, except an agreement concerning benefits upon retirement; or

(b) An agreement in which a restriction on the practitioner's right to practice is part of the settlement of a client controversy.