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Reminder: WIPO Standard ST.26 takes effect July 1

This Friday, July 1, 2022, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Standard ST.26 will take effect worldwide. Standard ST.26 will apply to the sequence listing format for submission of biological sequence data disclosed in patent applications filed on or after July 1. For applications filed before July 1, applicants will continue to provide sequence listings formatted according to the current standard, Standard ST.25, throughout prosecution.

The filing date of an application, for determining whether its sequence listing must comply with ST.25 or ST.26, is irrespective of any benefit or priority claim to an earlier application. Moreover, the filing date of a U.S. national phase application (i.e. an application submitted under 35 U.S.C. 371) is the international filing date, which is when the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) application was filed at a receiving office irrespective of any priority date.

We recently published a final rule (87 Fed. Reg. 30806) creating new rules 37 CFR 1.831-1.835 to implement WIPO Standard ST.26 and held a Patent Quality Chat discussing the new standard and related rules. For slides from the chat and additional information related to biological sequence data disclosures, visit the USPTO’s Sequence Listing Resource Center.

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