Files to be submitted are those relevant to the application in Portable Document Format (PDF), DOCX, ASCII text file format (.TXT), .ZIP compressed file format and Extensible Markup Language (.XML).
File naming conventions:
EXAMPLE: Filename.pdf , Filename.docx , 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. The filename extension must be lowercase (e.g. .docx)
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, periods, spaces or hyphens within file name after the first letter and before the file extension
*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$. You should also avoid starting a file name with any of these prohibited device names.
4. Spaces are allowed.
5. Spaces are permitted in your local file path
6. Length of file name is limited to a maximum of 100 characters including the required .pdf, .docx, or .zip file extension
a. For sequence listing .txt and .xml files, the length of the file name is limited to a maximum of 60 characters.
7. No Hidden Characters
EXAMPLE: VALID FILE NAMES:
Up_to_96-Alphabetic_or_Numeric_CharactersPlus.pdf
RUNonlettersorNUMBERS.txt
123-12333_z.zip
EXAMPLE: INVALID FILE NAMES (ERRORS) :
Over100charactersplusxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.pdf (exceeds total 100 character limit)
Name.PDF (ends in .PDF - must be .pdf)
~@#$%^&*()+=]}[{"':;?/>.<,.zip (contains invalid characters within file name)
>> also see: List of valid characters for patent application titles