Files to be Submitted - Naming PDF Files

Files to be submitted are those relevant to the application in Portable Document Format (PDF), ASCII text file format (.TXT) and if using PCT-SAFE, .ZIP compressed file format.

File naming conventions:

EXAMPLE: Filename.pdf , Filename.txt or Filename.zip

1. Start file name with [ A thru Z , a thru z , or 0 thru 9 ] - do not use brackets or commas; cannot start a file name with an underscore or hyphen
   
2. Last 4 characters of the file name must be lowercase .pdf ,

EXAMPLE: .pdf , .txt or .zip

3. Can consist of any combination* of characters selected from uppercase alphabet, lowercase alphabet and/or digits zero through nine:

[ A thru Z , a thru z , or 0 thru 9 , _ , - ] - do not use brackets, commas or symbols; can use underscore or hyphen within file name

*any combination except the following reserved device names: CON, PRN, AUX, NUI, COM1, COM2, COM3, COM4, COM6, COM7, COM8, COM9, LPT1, LPT2, LPT3, LPT4, LPT5, LPT6, LPT7, LPT8, LPT9, or CLOCK$. You should also avoid starting a file name with any of these prohibited device names.

4. No spaces are permitted in the actual file name
   
5. Spaces are permitted in your local file path
   
6. Length of file name is limited to a maximum of 100 characters including the required 4 character .pdf ,  .txt   or .zip file extension

EXAMPLE: VALID FILE NAMES:

Up_to_96-Alphabetic_or_Numeric_CharactersPlus.pdf

RUNonlettersorNUMBERS.txt

123-12333_z.zip

EXAMPLE: INVALID FILE NAMES (ERRORS) :

Over100charactersplusx.pdf (exceeds total 100 character limit)

Name.PDF (ends in .PDF - must be .pdf)

Any space.txt (cannot have a space in the file name)

~@#$%^&*()+=]}[{"':;?/>.<,.zip (contains invalid characters within file name)

>> also see: List of valid characters for patent application titles