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2627 - 2600 Optional Inter Partes Reexamination
2627 Incomplete Request for Inter Partes Reexamination [Added R-2]
37 CFR 1.915 Content of request for inter partes reexamination.
(a) The request must be accompanied by the fee for requesting inter partes reexamination set forth in § 1.20(c)(2).
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37 CFR 1.919 Filing date of request for inter partes reexamination.
(a) The filing date of a request for inter partes reexamination is the date on which the request satisfies the fee requirement of § 1.915(a).
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If the required fee under 37 CFR 1.20(c)(2) is not paid in full, the request for inter partes reexamination is incomplete and will not be considered on its merits nor have a notice of its filing announced in the Official Gazette. The request is considered to have a "filing date" under 37 CFR 1.919(a) only when the entire fee is paid. Until the entire fee is received, no control number or filing date will be assigned, and technically, no reexamination proceeding exists.
If no fee is received, or only a portion of the fee is received, the reexamination preprocessing staff of the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) will notify the requester of the defect in writing and give the requester a specified time, normally one month, to complete the request. This notice is not entered in the system. A telephone call may also be made to the requester indicating the amount of the insufficient fee. If the request is not timely completed, any partial fee will be returned by the CRU to the requester along with a notice that the reexamination request has not been accepted and the process has been terminated. The request itself will be treated as a citation under 37 CFR 1.501 if it complies therewith. If the request does not comply with 37 CFR 1.501, the request papers will also be returned to the requester by the CRU.
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