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Mail Issues, Office Closures, Postal Emergencies, etc. Referenced Items (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60)
(13)     Closing of the United States Patent and Trademark Office on
                           Monday, December 21, 2009

   In view of the official closing of the Federal Government offices in the
Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, including the United States Patent and
Trademark Office (USPTO), on Monday, December 21, 2009, the USPTO will
consider Monday, December 21, 2009, to be a "Federal holiday within the
District of Columbia" under 35 U.S.C. § 21(b) and 37 C.F.R. §§ 1.6, 1.7, 1.9,
2.2(d), 2.195 and 2.196. Any action or fee due on Monday, December 21, 2009
(or the preceding Saturday (December 19, 2009) or Sunday (December 20, 2009))
will be considered as timely for the purposes of, e.g., 15 U.S.C. §§ 1051(b),
1058, 1059, 1062(b), 1063, 1064, 1126(d), or 35 U.S.C. §§ 119, 120, 133 and
151, if the action is taken, or the fee paid, on the next succeeding business
day on which the USPTO is open, that is, Tuesday, December 22, 2009. 37
C.F.R. §§ 1.7(a) and 2.196.

   37 C.F.R. §§ 1.6(a)(2), 2.195(a)(4) and 2.198 provide that correspondence
deposited in the Express Mail Service of the United States Postal Service
(USPS) in accordance with 37 C.F.R. §§ 1.10 or 2.198 will be considered filed
on the date of deposit (as shown by the "date-in" on the Express Mail mailing
label) with the USPS. Thus, any paper or fee properly deposited in the
Express Mail Service of the USPS on Monday, December 21, 2009, in accordance
with 37 C.F.R. §§ 1.10 or 2.198 will be considered filed on its respective
date of deposit in the Express Mail Service of the USPS (as shown by a "date-
in" of December 21, 2009, on the Express Mail mailing label).

   37 C.F.R. § 1.6(a)(4) and 37 C.F.R. § 2.195(a)(2) provide that patent and
trademark-related correspondence transmitted electronically to the USPTO will
be considered filed in the USPTO on the date the USPTO received the electronic
transmission. Thus, any patent and/or trademark-related correspondence
transmitted electronically to the USPTO on Monday, December 21, 2009, will be
considered filed in the USPTO on the date the USPTO received the complete
electronic transmission. Correspondence successfully received by the USPTO
through the patent Electronic Filing System (EFS-Web) will receive the date
as indicated on the Acknowledgement Receipt.

December 22, 2009                                           DAVID J. KAPPOS
                                            Under Secretary of Commerce for
                                  Intellectual Property and Director of the
                                  United States Patent and Trademark Office

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