United States Patent and Trademark Office OG Notices: 11 November 2003

           Correspondence Filed By Individuals Whose Names Have Been
             Removed From The Register Pursuant to 37 CFR 10.11(b)

   Pursuant to 37 CFR 1.33(b)(1), amendments and other papers
filed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that require a
signature under 37 CFR 1.4 may be signed by a registered attorney or
agent of record appointed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.34(b). If the
correspondence is signed by an attorney or agent, that attorney or
agent must be registered and be entitled to practice before the USPTO
under 37 CFR 10.6. Attorneys and agents who have been administratively
suspended as a result of having their names removed from the register
due to the failure to reply or provide information requested by the
Director of the Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED) under 37 CFR
10.11(b) are not entitled to practice before the USPTO until
reinstated. Consequently, correspondence signed by attorneys or agents
who are administratively suspended will be treated as improperly signed
and will not be entered (see MPEP 714.01(a)).

   Where there is at least one registered practitioner still of
record who has not been suspended or excluded from practice before the
Office, the Office will notify the first named registered practitioner
other than the administratively suspended attorney or agent of the
status of the application and advise that a duplicate amendment (or
other paper) properly signed must be furnished or the amendment (or
other paper) already filed must be ratified. If there are no remaining
registered practitioners still of record, the notice will be sent to
the first named inventor. See MPEP 407 and 714.01(a).

   Office personnel will also provide the Director of OED with the
name of the administratively suspended individual who has signed
correspondence filed in the Office when that individual is not
authorized to practice before the USPTO.

   If the application is not under final rejection, the notice
will indicate that applicant is given a new shortened statutory time
period of one-month from the mailing date of the notice to submit a
properly signed correspondence or ratify the previously filed
correspondence. See 37 CFR 1.135(c). If the application is under final
rejection, the notice will indicate that the period for reply set in
the prior Office action continues to run and that appropriate action by
the applicant must be taken (e.g., ratify the previously filed
correspondence and submit any necessary extensions of time under 37 CFR
1.136(a), if available, to avoid abandonment, or if the maximum period
for reply (including any extensions of time under 37 CFR 1.136) has
expired then a petition to revive the abandoned application will be
necessary).

   The Office is instituting a practice whereby OED will
periodically notify the Patent Technology Center Directors of the names
of the attorneys and agents who have been administratively suspended
pursuant to 37 CFR 10.11(b) and that correspondences signed by these
administratively suspended attorneys and agents will not be accepted.
Upon reinstatement of an individual who has been administratively
suspended, OED will notify the Patent Technology Center Directors that
correspondence signed by that individual after reinstatement can be
accepted as of the reinstatement date.

October 17, 2003                                           STEPHEN G. KUNIN
                                                    Deputy Commissioner for
                                                  Patent Examination Policy