Files to be submitted are those relevant to the application in Portable Document Format (PDF), DOCX, ASCII text file format (.TXT) and if using PCT-SAFE, .ZIP compressed file format.
File naming conventions:
EXAMPLE: Filename.pdf , Filename.docx , Filename.txt or Filename.zip
- 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
- Last 4 characters of the file name must be lowercase .pdf ,
EXAMPLE: .pdf , .txt, docx, zip
- 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 or hyphen within file name
*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$. You should also avoid starting a file name with any of these prohibited device names.
- No spaces are permitted in the actual file name in EFS-Web, however, Patent Center spaces are allowed.
- Spaces are permitted in your local file path
- Length of file name is limited to a maximum of 100 characters including the required 4 character .pdf, .docx, .txt or .zip file extension
EXAMPLE: VALID FILE NAMES:
Up_to_96-Alphabetic_or_Numeric_CharactersPlus.pdf
RUNonlettersorNUMBERS.txt
123-12333_z.zip
EXAMPLE: INVALID FILE NAMES (ERRORS) :
Over100charactersplusx.pdf (exceeds total 100 character limit)
Name.PDF (ends in .PDF - must be .pdf)
Any space.txt (cannot have a space in the file name except in Patent Center)
~@#$%^&*()+=]}[{"':;?/>.<,.zip (contains invalid characters within file name)>> also see: List of valid characters for patent application titles