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502 Depositing Correspondence [R-2] - 500 Receipt and Handling of Mail and Papers
502 Depositing Correspondence [R-2]
**>37 CFR 1.5 Identification of patent, patent application, or patent-related proceeding.<
(a) No correspondence relating to an application should be filed prior to receipt of the application number from the Patent and Trademark Office. When a letter directed to the Patent and Trademark Office concerns a previously filed application for a patent, it must identify on the top page in a conspicuous location, the application number (consisting of the series code and the serial number; e.g., 07/123,456), or the serial number and filing date assigned to that application by the Patent and Trademark Office, or the international application number of the international application. Any correspondence not containing such identification will be returned to the sender where a return address is available. The returned correspondence will be accompanied with a cover letter which will indicate to the sender that if the returned correspondence is resubmitted to the Patent and Trademark Office within two weeks of the mail date on the cover letter, the original date of receipt of the correspondence will be considered by the Patent and Trademark Office as the date of receipt of the correspondence. Applicants may use either the Certificate of Mailing or Transmission procedure under § 1.8 or the Express Mail procedure under § 1.10 for resubmissions of returned correspondence if they desire to have the benefit of the date of deposit in the United States Postal Service. If the returned correspondence is not resubmitted within the two-week period, the date of receipt of the resubmission will be considered to be the date of receipt of the correspondence. The two-week period to resubmit the returned correspondence will not be extended. In addition to the application number, all letters directed to the Patent and Trademark Office concerning applications for patent should also state the name of the applicant, the title of the invention, the date of filing the same, and, if known, the group art unit or other unit within the Patent and Trademark Office responsible for considering the letter and the name of the examiner or other person to which it has been assigned.
(b) When the letter concerns a patent other than for purposes of paying a maintenance fee, it should state the number and date of issue of the patent, the name of the patentee, and the title of the invention. For letters concerning payment of a maintenance fee in a patent, see the provisions of § 1.366(c).
(c) **>[Reserved]<
(d) A letter relating to a reexamination proceeding should identify it as such by the number of the patent undergoing reexamination, the reexamination request control number assigned to such proceeding, and, if known, the group art unit and name of the examiner to which it been assigned.
(e) When a paper concerns an interference, it should state the names of the parties and the number of the interference. The name of the examiner-in-chief assigned to the interference ( § 1.610) and the name of the party filing the paper should appear conspicuously on the first page of the paper.
(f) When a paper concerns a provisional application, it should identify the application as such and include the application number.
**>37 CFR 1.6 Receipt of correspondence.
(a) Date of receipt and Express Mail date of deposit. Correspondence received in the Patent and Trademark Office is stamped with the date of receipt except as follows:
(1) The Patent and Trademark Office is not open for the filing of correspondence on any day that is a Saturday, Sunday, or Federal holiday within the District of Columbia. Except for correspondence transmitted by facsimile under paragraph (a)(3) of this section, or filed electronically under paragraph (a)(4) of this section, no correspondence is received in the Office on Saturdays, Sundays, or Federal holidays within the District of Columbia.
(2) Correspondence filed in accordance with § 1.10 will be stamped with the date of deposit as "Express Mail" with the United States Postal Service.
(3) Correspondence transmitted by facsimile to the Patent and Trademark Office will be stamped with the date on which the complete transmission is received in the Patent and Trademark Office unless that date is a Saturday, Sunday, or Federal holiday within the District of Columbia, in which case the date stamped will be the next succeeding day which is not a Saturday, Sunday, or Federal holiday within the District of Columbia.
(4) [Reserved]
(b) [Reserved]
(c) Correspondence delivered by hand. In addition to being mailed, correspondence may be delivered by hand during hours the Office is open to receive correspondence.
(d) Facsimile transmission. Except in the cases enumerated below, correspondence, including authorizations to charge a deposit account, may be transmitted by facsimile. The receipt date accorded to the correspondence will be the date on which the complete transmission is received in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, unless that date is a Saturday, Sunday, or Federal holiday within the District of Columbia. See § 1.6(a)(3). To facilitate proper processing, each transmission session should be limited to correspondence to be filed in a single application or other proceeding before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The application number of a patent application, the control number of a reexamination proceeding, the interference number of an interference proceeding, or the patent number of a patent should be entered as a part of the sender's identification on a facsimile cover sheet. Facsimile transmissions are not permitted and, if submitted, will not be accorded a date of receipt in the following situations:
(1) Correspondence as specified in § 1.4(e), requiring an original signature;
(2) Certified documents as specified in § 1.4(f);
(3) Correspondence which cannot receive the benefit of the certificate of mailing or transmission as specified in § 1.8(a)(2)(i)(A) through (D) and (F), and § 1.8(a)(2)(iii)(A), except that a continued prosecution application under § 1.53(d) may be transmitted to the Office by facsimile;
(4) Drawings submitted under §§ 1.81, 1.83 through 1.85, 1.152, 1.165, 1.174, or 1.437;
(5) A request for reexamination under § 1.510 or § 1.913;
(6) Correspondence to be filed in a patent application subject to a secrecy order under §§ 5.1 through 5.5 of this chapter and directly related to the secrecy order content of the application;
(7) [Reserved]
(8) [Reserved]
(9) Correspondence to be filed in an interference proceeding which consists of a preliminary statement under § 1.621; a transcript of a deposition under § 1.676 or of interrogatories, or cross-interrogatories; or an evidentiary record and exhibits under § 1.653.
(e) Interruptions in U.S. Postal Service. If interruptions or emergencies in the United States Postal Service which have been so designated by the Director occur, the Patent and Trademark Office will consider as filed on a particular date in the Office any correspondence which is:
(1) Promptly filed after the ending of the designated interruption or emergency; and
(2) Accompanied by a statement indicating that such correspondence would have been filed on that particular date if it were not for the designated interruption or emergency in the United States Postal Service.
(f) Facsimile transmission of a patent application under § 1.53(d). In the event that the Office has no evidence of receipt of an application under § 1.53(d) (a continued prosecution application) transmitted to the Office by facsimile transmission, the party who transmitted the application under § 1.53(d) may petition the Director to accord the application under § 1.53(d) a filing date as of the date the application under § 1.53(d) is shown to have been transmitted to and received in the Office,
(1) Provided that the party who transmitted such application under § 1.53(d):
(i) Informs the Office of the previous transmission of the application under § 1.53(d) promptly after becoming aware that the Office has no evidence of receipt of the application under § 1.53(d);
(ii) Supplies an additional copy of the previously transmitted application under § 1.53(d); and
(iii) Includes a statement which attests on a personal knowledge basis or to the satisfaction of the Director to the previous transmission of the application under § 1.53(d) and is accompanied by a copy of the sending unit's report confirming transmission of the application under § 1.53(d) or evidence that came into being after the complete transmission and within one business day of the complete transmission of the application under § 1.53(d).
(2) The Office may require additional evidence to determine if the application under § 1.53(d) was transmitted to and received in the Office on the date in question.<
All applications (provisional and nonprovisional) may be sent to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by mail (see MPEP § 501), or they may be **>hand-carried to the Customer Window<. A continued prosecution application (CPA) filed under 37 CFR 1.53(d) >(available for design applications only)<, amendments, and other papers may be sent to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by mail (see MPEP § 501), by facsimile (see MPEP § 502.01) or **>hand-carried to the Customer Window<. Any correspondence sent to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office should include the sender's return address and ZIP Code designation.**>For correspondence hand-delivered to the Office, see subsection II. below.<
Trademark-related papers may also be filed or delivered by private courier to the "walk-up" window located on the third floor of the South Tower Building, 2900 Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA >22202<. Hand delivery of trademark papers and fees directly to the South Tower Building is recommended, to expedite processing.
All correspondence related to a national patent application already filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office must include the identification of the application number or the serial number and the filing date assigned to the application by the Office. Any correspondence not containing the proper identification set forth in 37 CFR 1.5(a) **>will be returned to the sender by OIPE<. Each paper should be inspected to assure that the papers being returned contain either an "Office Date" stamp or a TC date stamp. A minor error in the identification of the application can be corrected by the *>Office< provided the correct identification can be quickly discovered. Examples of minor errors are transposed numbers, typographical errors, and listing the parent application number. The failure to give any application number is not a minor error. The Office often experiences difficulty in matching incoming papers with the application file to which they pertain because insufficient or erroneous information is given. This applies especially to amendments, powers of attorney, changes of address, status letters, petitions for extension of time, and other petitions.
Frequently, there are errors in the application number or in the art unit number, or the incoming paper uses the old art unit number where an application has been transferred and acted on by a different art unit.
Where the art unit number is entirely omitted, the routine operations of OIPE must be interrupted solely for the purpose of determining the location of the application so that the communication can be properly routed. Under these circumstances, the efficiency of OIPE is impaired and the incoming paper is delayed in reaching its proper destination. Where such papers are not essential to compliance with a statutory period or time limit for reply, they may be returned for completion to identify the location of the files. >For Image File Wrapper (IFW) processing, see IFW Manual.<
It would be of great assistance to the Office if all incoming papers pertaining to a filed application carried the following items:
(A) Application number (checked for accuracy, including series code and serial no.).
(B) Art Unit number (copied from most recent Office communication).
(C) Filing date.
(D) Name of the examiner who prepared the most recent Office action.
(E) Title of invention.
(F) Confirmation number (see MPEP § 503).
Applicants may be reminded of this provision by including form paragraph 5.01.
¶ 5.01 Proper Heading for Incoming Papers
It would be of great assistance to the Office if all incoming papers pertaining to a filed application carried the following items:
1. Application number (checked for accuracy, including series code and serial no.).
2. Art Unit number (copied from most recent Office communication).
3. Filing date.
4. Name of the examiner who prepared the most recent Office action.
5. Title of invention.
6. Confirmation number (see MPEP § 503).
The Office prefers identifying indicia to be provided on the drawings. If such identifying indicia is provided, it must be placed on the front of each sheet of drawings and centered within the top margin. See 37 CFR 1.84(c). The identifying indicia should include the title of the invention, inventor's name, application number, and confirmation number (see MPEP § 503). If the Office has not yet assigned an application number and confirmation number to the application, the docket number (if any) used by the applicant to track the application should be provided.
When the Office receives **>replacement sheets of< drawings for patent applications after the application has been filed, a cover letter identifying the drawings by application number should accompany them. The application number and other identifying indicia should be placed on each sheet of drawings in accordance with 37 CFR 1.84(c).
It is requested that the submission of additional or supplemental papers on a newly filed application be deferred until an application number has been received. **
Documents which have no particular time or sequence requirements should be filed in the Office with materials submitted in reply to the statutory or regulatory requirements. Examples are certified copies of foreign documents to support priority in patent applications, changes of power of attorney, or changes in mailing address following first action.
All letters relating to a reexamination proceeding should identify the proceeding involved by patent number and reexamination request control number.
>I. < POST ALLOWANCE CORRESPONDENCE
All post allowance correspondence, except for petitions under 37 CFR 1.313(c), should be ** addressed "*>Mail Stop< Issue Fee." Any petition filed under 37 CFR 1.313(c) to withdraw an application from issue after payment of the issue fee should be clearly marked "Petition under 37 CFR 1.313(c)" and be either hand-carried >to the Office of Petitions, Crystal Plaza 4, 2201 South Clark Place, Room 3C23, Arlington, Virginia 22202< or submitted by facsimile to the **>Central Facsimile Number (703) 872-9306<.
Any paper filed after receiving the Issue *>notification< should include the indicated patent number.
Since an allowed application *>may< be issued as a patent within about *>four< weeks of payment of the issue fee, all post allowance correspondence should be filed prior to the date of issue fee payment to ensure the papers reach the appropriate USPTO official for consideration before the date the application issues as a patent. >See MPEP § 2732 for a discussion of the patent term adjustment impact of submitting amendments or other papers after a notice of allowance has been mailed.<
If the above suggestions are adopted, the processing of both new and allowed applications could proceed more efficiently and promptly through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
II. < HAND-DELIVERY OF PAPERS
**>No official paper which relates to a pending application may be personally delivered to a TC except papers that are directed to an application subject to a secrecy order pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 181, or are national security classified and that are directed to Licensing and Review. Effective December 1, 2003, all official patent application related correspondence for organizations reporting to the Commissioner for Patents (e.g., TCs, the Office of Patent Publication, and the Office of Petitions) that is hand-carried (or delivered by other delivery services) must be delivered to the Customer Window, with a few exceptions.
Correspondence for Which Centralized Delivery of Hand-Carried Papers is Not Required
The following types of patent application related correspondence may be delivered to the specific location where they are processed instead of the Customer Window. Any such correspondence carried by error to the Customer Window will be accepted but then re-routed to the appropriate office, thereby incurring a delay before being processed. Non-patent application related papers (e.g., correspondence for the Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED), questions on employment, correspondence for the Office of General Counsel, correspondence relating to PCT international applications prior to national stage entry) may continue to be hand-carried to the current designated locations depending on the substance of the correspondence.
(A) Petitions for express abandonment under 37 CFR 1.138(c) to avoid publication may be hand-carried to the Pre-Grant Publication Division, 2231 Crystal Drive, Room 905, Arlington, VA 22202.
(B) Petitions to withdraw from issue under 37 CFR 1.313(c) may be hand-carried to the Office of Petitions, Crystal Plaza 4, 2201 South Clark Place, Room 3C23, Arlington, VA 22202.
(C) Requests for expedited examination of a design application may be hand-carried to the Design TC Director's Office (TC 2900). Applicants should check the USPTO web site at www.uspto.gov for the current telephone and room number of the Design TC Director.
(D) Papers required by the Office of Patent Publication may be hand-carried to the Office of Patent Publication, 2231 Crystal Drive, Room 907, Arlington, VA 22202.
(E) Applications subject to a secrecy order pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 181, or are national security classified, and correspondence to be filed in such an application, may be hand-carried to Licensing and Review, Office of TC 3600 Director, Crystal Park 5, 2451 Crystal Drive, Room 3D07, Arlington, VA 22202.
III. < "EXPRESS MAIL" SERVICE
There are two types of "Express Mail" delivery offered by the U.S. Postal Service - "Post Office to Addressee" and "Post Office to Post Office." The only type of service which can be used for "Express Mail" directed to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is the "Post Office to Addressee" service of the U.S. Postal Service. 37 CFR 1.10. This service provides for the use of a mailing label which clearly indicates the date on which a particular paper or fee was deposited.
The addresses that should be used for "Express Mail" sent to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office are set forth in 37 CFR 1.1 (see MPEP § 501).
"Post Office to Post Office" Express Mail does not provide for delivery but instead is retained at the postal facility of the addressee for pickup. The Postal Service does not notify the addressee that this type of Express Mail has been received and is awaiting pickup. If not picked up, this mail is held for 15 days and then returned to the sender.
Therefore, since the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office does not have resources for picking up any mail, including Express Mail, the "Post Office to Post Office" Express Mail will not reach the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
See MPEP § 513 for the use of the Express Mail Mailing procedure of 37 CFR 1.10.
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