TIP OF THE MONTH - USPTO Change of Address

Here ye, here ye - we changed our address! The United States Patent and Trademark Office is preparing to move to Alexandria, Virginia, and so we changed our correspondence addresses so that all mail will now be routed through a United States Postal Service (USPS) facility that is near the Office’s new campus. Mark this on your calendars – the effective date of the correspondence address change was May 1, 2003!

The Office's three separate new general mailing addresses are now as follows:

(1) For correspondence processed by the organizations reporting to the

Commissioner for Patents:
Commissioner for Patents
PO Box 1450
Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450;

(2) For correspondence processed by the organizations reporting to the Commissioner for Trademarks or the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board:

Commissioner for Trademarks
2900 Crystal Drive
Arlington, Virginia 22202-3513

(3) For other correspondence (including patent and trademark documents sent to the Assignment Division for recordation and requests for certified or uncertified copies of patent or trademark documents):

Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office,
PO Box 1450
Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450.

The above addresses are the Office's three general mailing addresses. The USPTO also has separate mailing addresses for specific correspondence:

1) Certain court-related correspondence (e.g., a summons and complaint) being delivered to the Office via the USPS must be addressed:

General Counsel, United States Patent and Trademark
Office, PO Box 15667
Arlington, Virginia 22215

2) Complaints regarding invention promoters should be addressed:

Mail Stop 24
Commissioner for patents
P.O. Box 1450
Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450

3) Payments of maintenance fees in patents being delivered to the Office via the USPS should be addressed:

United States Patent and Trademark Office
PO Box 371611
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15250-1611

Persons filing correspondence should check the rules of practice, the Official Gazette, or the Office's Internet Web site (http://www.uspto.gov) for a complete listing of new addresses in order to determine the appropriate mailing address for their specific situation.

In addition it should be noted that the Office is changing the various special Box designations to corresponding Mail Stop designations (e.g., ``Box 4'' will now be ``Mail Stop 4''). Since the new address includes a Post Office Box number, the continued use of special Box designations in the address might have resulted in confusion between the Post Office Box number and the special Box designation (especially when the special Box designation is a box number). Please refer to http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/sol/notices/68fr14332.pdf [PDF viewer]
for more information on the special Box designations.

There will be a transition period for customers to become accustomed to the above noted address changes. The USPTO has arranged for continued delivery of correspondence addressed to the Office's former Washington, DC 20231 address as a courtesy for a limited period of time.

With respect to other addresses maintained by the USPTO, it is noted that in November of 2001, the Office had previously established a Post Office Box in Arlington, Virginia (PO Box 2327, Arlington, Virginia 22202) for use on an emergency basis. It was indicated that patent-related correspondence would continue to be accepted at this Arlington, Virginia Post Office Box and treated as if it were properly addressed to the USPTO. However, the Office has now provided notice that persons submitting correspondence to the Office should no longer use this Arlington, Virginia Post Office Box for any correspondence (including sequence listings in electronic format) after May 1, 2003 in view of the notification for the new Alexandria address.

Please make note of these address changes when filing correspondence with the USPTO in the near future.