United States Patent and Trademark Office OG Notices: 30 December 2003

                      SPECIAL MAIL STOPS FOR PATENT MAIL

   Effective May 1, 2003, the United States Patent and Trademark Office
has a new address for some mail. See Correspondence with the United States
Patent and Trademark Office, 68 Fed. Reg. 14332 (March 25, 2003). The mail
stop should generally appear as the first line in the address, but the term
"Mail Stop" may be abbreviated "MS". Special mail stop designations
should be used to allow forwarding of particular types of mail to the
appropriate area as quickly as possible. Such mail may be forwarded to
the appropriate area without being opened. Only the specified type of
document should be placed in an envelope addressed to one of these
special mail stops. If any documents other than the specified type
identified for each special mail stop are addressed to that mail stop,
they will be significantly delayed in reaching the appropriate area for
which they are intended. If no mail stop is included on the list below,
then no mail stop is required for the correspondence (e.g., there is no
mail stop for amendments with fees).

   Requests for a corrected filing receipt should be faxed to
(703) 746-9195. Some correspondence may only be submitted via the Office's
electronic filing system (EFS). Instructions on how to file and what can be
filed via EFS are posted on the Office's Internet Web site
http://www.uspto.gov under the Electronic Business Center section.

   Please address mail to be delivered by the United States Postal
Service (USPS) as follows:


        Mail Stop ____
        Commissioner for Patents
        P.O. Box 1450
        Alexandria, VA 22313-1450

   Please address mail to be delivered by other delivery services (Federal
Express (Fed Ex), UPS, DHL, Laser, Action, Purolator, etc.) as follows:

        U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
        2011 South Clark Place
        Customer Window, Mail Stop ___
        Crystal Plaza Two, Lobby, Room 1B03
        Arlington, Virginia 22202


Mail Stop Designations  Explanation

Mail Stop 12            Contributions to the Examiner Education Program.

Mail Stop 313(c)        Petitions under 37 CFR 1.313(c) to withdraw
                        a patent application from issue after
                        payment of the issue fee and any papers
                        associated with the petition, including
                        papers necessary for a continuing
                        application or a request for continued examination
                        (RCE).

Mail Stop AF            Amendments and other responses after final
                        rejection, other than an appeal brief.
Mail Stop Appeal        For appeal briefs under 37 CFR 1.192 or reply
 Brief-Patents          briefs under 37 CFR 1.193(a).

Mail Stop               For fee and petitions under 37 CFR 1.182 to obtain
 Application            date received and/or application number for patent
 Number                 applications prior to the Office's standard
                        notification (return post card. or the official
                        "Filing Receipt", "Notice to File Missing Parts",
                        or "Notice of Incomplete Application").

Mail Stop               Public comments regarding patent related
 Comments-Patents       regulations and procedures.

Mail Stop Conversion    Requests under 37 CFR 1.53(c)(2) to convert a
                        nonprovisional application to a provisional
                        application and requests under 37 CFR 1.53(c)(3)
                        to convert a provisional application to a
                        nonprovisional application.

Mail Stop CPA           Requests for Continued Prosecution Applications
                        under 37 CFR 1.53(d) for design patent
                        applications. Note that CPAs cannot be filed in
                        utility or plant applications.

Mail Stop DD            Disclosure Documents or materials related to the
                        Disclosure Document Program. (A disclosure
                        document is NOT an information disclosure
                        statement.) Instead of filing a disclosure
                        document, inventors are encouraged to file a
                        provisional patent application.

Mail Stop Design        The filing of all design patent applications that
                        do not request expedited examination under 37 CFR
                        1.55.

Mail Stop EBC           Mail for the Electronic Business Center including:
                        Certificate Action Forms, Request for Customer
                        Numbers, and Requests for Customer Number Data
                        Change (USPTO Forms PTO-2042, PTO/SB/124A and
                        125A, respectively) and Customer Number Upload
                        Spreadsheets and Cover Letters.

Mail Stop Expedited     Only to be used for the initial filing of design
 Design                 applications accompanied by a request for
                        expedited examination under 37 CFR 1.155.
                        (Design applicants seeking expedited examination
                        may alternatively file a design application and
                        corresponding request under 37 CFR 1.155 by
                        hand-delivering the application papers and request
                        directly to the Design Group Director's office.)

Mail Stop ILS           Correspondence relating to international patent
                        classification, exchanges and standards.

Mail Stop Issue Fee     All communications following the receipt of a
                        PTOL-85, "Notice of Allowance and Fee(s) Due", and
                        prior to the issuance of a patent should be
                        addressed to Mail Stop Issue Fee, unless advised to
                        the contrary. Issue fee payments can also be faxed
                        to (703)746-4000. Assignments are the exception.
                        Assignments (with cover sheets) should be faxed to
                        (703)306-5995 or submitted in a separate envelope
                        and be sent to Mail Stop Assignment Recordation
                        Services, Director - U.S. Patent and Trademark
                        Office as shown below.

Mail Stop Missing       Replies to OIPE notices such as the Notice
 Parts                  of Omitted Items, Notice to File Corrected
                        Application Papers, Notice of Incomplete
                        Application, Notice to Comply with Nucleotide
                        Sequence Requirements, and Notice to File Missing
                        Parts of Application, and associated papers and
                        fees. Note that such correspondence may also be
                        faxed to: (703) 746-4060, unless the
                        correspondence is required to establish the filing
                        date of the application or includes drawings.

Mail Stop MPEP          Submissions concerning the Manual of Patent
                        Examining Procedure.

Mail Stop Non-Fee       Non-fee amendments to patent applications. (Use
 Amendment              Mail Stop AF for replies after final rejection.)
                        No mail stop is required for amendments with fees.

Mail Stop Patent        New patent applications and associated papers and
 Application            fees.

Mail Stop Patent Ext.   Applications for patent term extension and any
                        communications relating thereto.

Mail Stop Petition      Petitions to be decided by the Office of Petitions
                        including petitions to revive and petitions to
                        accept late payment of issue fees or maintenance
                        fees.

Mail Stop PGPUB         Correspondence regarding publication of patent
                        applications not otherwise provided, including
                        requests for early publication made after filing,
                        rescission of non-publication request, corrected
                        patent application publication, refund of
                        publication fee.

Mail Stop PGPUB-ABD     Petitions under 37 CFR 1.138 to expressly abandon
                        an application to avoid publication of the
                        application.

Mail Stop PGPUB         Drawings to be included in a patent application
 Drawings               publication (replacement drawings for drawings
                        included with a patent application on filing).

Mail Stop PCT           Mail related to applications filed under the Patent
                        Cooperation Treaty.

Mail Stop Provisional   The filing of all provisional patent applications
 Patent Application     and any communications relating thereto.

Mail Stop RCE           Requests for continued examination under 37 CFR
                        1.114.

Mail Stop               Correspondence pertaining to the reconstruction of
 Reconstruction         lost patent files.

Mail Stop Ex Parte      Requests for Reexamination for original request
 Reexam                 papers only.

Mail Stop Inter         Requests for Inter Partes Reexamination for
 Partes Reexam          original request papers and for all subsequent
                        correspondence other than correspondence to the
                        Office of the Solicitor (see 37 CFR 1.1(a)(3) and
                        1.302(c)).

Mail Stop Reissue       All new and continuing reissue application filings.

Mail Stop Sequence      Submission of diskette for applications with
                        sequence listings.



                          ADDRESS FOR TRADEMARK MAIL

   The box designations previously listed in Trademark Manual of Examining
Procedure, Section 305.01 are no longer in use. See Change of Address for
Mailing Trademark Correspondence, which is posted on the USPTO Internet web
site at: http://www.uspto.gov/web/trademarks/tmmmailingaddressnotice.htm.

   Please address mail to be delivered by the United States Postal Service
(USPS) as follows:

        Commissioner for Trademarks
        2900 Crystal Drive
        Arlington, Virginia 22202-3514



                       SPECIAL MAIL STOPS APPLICABLE TO
                        BOTH PATENT AND TRADEMARK MAIL

   The following special mail stop designations are applicable to
both patent and trademark related mail, and the recommendations for
"Special Mail Stops for Patent Mail" (above) should be followed for
the types of mail listed below.

   Please address mail to be directed to a mail stop identified below to
be delivered by the United States Postal Service (USPS) as follows
(unless otherwise instructed):

        Mail Stop___
        Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
        P.O. Box 1450
        Alexandria, VA 22313-1450


Mail Stop Designations  Explanation

Mail Stop 3             Mail for the Office of Personnel from NFC.


Mail Stop 6             Mail for the Office of Procurement.

Mail Stop 8             All papers for the Office of the Solicitor except
                        communications relating to pending litigation and
                        disciplinary proceedings; papers relating to
                        pending litigation in court cases shall be mailed
                        only to Office of the Solicitor, P.O. Box 15667,
                        Arlington, VA 22215 and papers related to pending
                        disciplinary proceedings before the Administrative
                        Law Judge or the Director shall be mailed only to
                        the Office of the Solicitor, P.O. Box 16116,
                        Arlington, VA 22215.

Mail Stop 11            Mail for the Electronic Ordering Service (EOS).

Mail Stop 13            Mail for the Employee and Labor Relations Division.

Mail Stop 16            Mail related to refund requests.

Mail Stop 17            Invoices directed to the Office of Finance.

Mail Stop 24            Mail for the Inventor's Assistance Program,
                        including complaints about Invention Promoters.

Mail Stop 171           Vacancy Announcement Applications.

Mail Stop               All assignment documents, security interests, and
 Assignment             other documents to be recorded in the Assignment
 Recordation            records. Note that documents with cover sheets
 Services               faxed to (703)306-5995 are processed much more
                        quickly than those submitted by mail.

Mail Stop               Mail for the Office of Congressional Relations.
 Congressional
 Relations

Mail Stop               All requests for certified or uncertified copies
 Document               of patent or trademark documents.
 Services

Mail Stop EEO           Mail for the Office of Civil Rights.

Mail Stop               Mail for the Office of Enforcement.
 Enforcement

Mail Stop               Communications relating to interferences and
 Interference           applications and patents involved in interference.

Mail Stop               Mail for the Office of International Relations.
 International
 Relations

Mail Stop M             Correspondence related to maintenance fees other
 Correspondence         than payments of maintenance fees in patents.
                        See below for the address for maintenance fee
                        payments.

Mail Stop OED           Mail for the Office of Enrollment and Discipline.



                           Maintenance Fee Payments

   Payments of maintenance fees in patents not submitted electronically
over the Internet at www.uspto.gov should be mailed to:

        United States Patent and Trademark Office
        P.O. Box 371611
        Pittsburgh, PA 15250-1611



                        Deposit Account Replenishments

   To send payment to replenish deposit accounts, send the payments to:

        Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
        P.O. Box 70541
        Chicago, IL 60673