MPEP says,
When any claim of an application or a patent under reexamination is rejected or objected to, any evidence submitted to traverse the rejection or objection on a basis not otherwise provided for must be by way of an oath or declaration under this section.
I have not received the first office action yet.
If I submit "objective evidence" now, do I have to file any Affidavit or Declaration?
Objective evidence relevant to the issue of obviousness must be evaluated by Office personnel. Id. at 17-18, 148 USPQ at 467. Such evidence, sometimes referred to as “secondary considerations,” may include evidence of commercial success, long-felt but unsolved needs, failure of others, and unexpected results. The evidence may be included in the specification as filed, accompany the application on filing, or be provided in a timely manner at some other point during the prosecution.
.timely manner
part. If the company that's copying my work stopped copying and if I submit the evidence at that time, i'm not sure whether that will be accepted as evidence. That's the reason I wanna submit the evidence now.