United States Patent and Trademark Office OG Notices: 25 May 2004

                      SPECIAL MAIL STOPS FOR PATENT MAIL

   Revisions have been made to the list of mail stops. The mail stops that
should no longer be used are: Mail Stop Application Number, Mail Stop CPA,
Mail Stop Design, Mail Stop Non-Fee Amendment, Mail Stop PGPUB-ABD, Mail
Stop Patent Application, and Mail Stop Provisional Application. Mail Stop
Non-Fee Amendment has been changed to Mail Stop Amendment. In addition,
Mail Stop PGPUB-ABD has been changed to Mail Stop Express Abandonment and
all requests and petitions for an express abandonment under 37 CFR 1.138
should be directed to Mail Stop Express Abanadonment or transmitted by
facsimile to (703) 305-8568. Lastly, Mail Stop L&R and Mail Stop Post Issue
have been established.

   Effective May 1, 2003, the United States Patent and Trademark Office
changed for some mail. See Correspondence with the United States Patent
and Trademark Office, 68 Fed. Reg. 14332 (March 25, 2003). Special mail
stop designations should be used to allow forwarding to particular types
of mail to the appropriate areas 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. The mail
stop should generally appear as the first line in the address.

   Requests for a corrected filing receipt should be faxed to
(703) 746-9195. Petitions for a foreign filing license may be faxed to
(703) 305-7658.

   Some correspondence may be submitted electronically. See the
Office's Internet Web site http://www.uspto.gov for additional
information.

   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

   Except correspondence for Maintenance Fee payments, Deposit Account
Replenishments (see 1.25(c)(4), and Licensing and Review (see CFR 5.1(c)
and 5.2(c)), 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, VA 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               Information disclosure statments, drawings (other
 Amendment              than drawing with a petition under 37 CFR 1.182-
                        see mail stop PGPUB Drawings), and replies to
                        Office actions in patent applications with or
                        without an amendment to the application or a
                        terminal disclaimer. (Use Mail Stop AF for replies
                        after final rejection.).

Mail Stop Appeal        For appeal briefs under 37 CFR 1.192 or reply
 Brief-Patents          briefs under 37 CFR 1.193(a).

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 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 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 Express       Requests for abandonment of a patent application
 Abandonment            pursuant to 37 CFR 1.138, including any petitions
                        under 37 CFR 1.138(c) to expressly abandon an
                        application to avoid publication of the
                        application. (This new mail stop should be used
                        instead of Mail Stop PGPUB-ABD. Applicants are
                        encouraged to transmit the requests by facsimile to
                        (703) 305-8568.))

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.

                        Assignments are the exception. Assignments (with
                        cover sheets) should be faxed to (703)306-5995,
                        electronically submitted, 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 L&R           All documents pertaining to applications subject
                        secrecy order pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 181, or are
                        national-security classified and required to be
                        processed accordingly.

                        Such papers may also be hand carried to:

                        Technology Center 3600, Office of the Director
                        2451 Crystal Drive, Room 3D07
                        Arlington, VA 22202

Mail Stop Missing       Replies to OIPE notices such as the Notice of
 Parts                  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.

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

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

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

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

Mail Stop Post Issue    In patented files: requests for changes of
                        correspondence address, powers of attorney,
                        revocations of powers of attorney, withdrawal
                        of attorney and submissions under 37 CFR 1.501.
                        Designation of, or changes to, a fee address should
                        be addressed to Mail Stop M Correspondence.

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 the computer readable form (CRF) for
                        applications with sequence listings, when the CRF
                        is not being filed with the patent application.


                          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 Correpsondence, which is posted on the USPTO Internet web
site at: http://www.uspto.gov/web/trademarks/tmmailingaddressnotice.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 that
 Services               are faxed to (703) 306-5995 or submitted
                        electronically are processed much more quickly than
                        those submitted by mail.

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

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

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             Mail to designate or change a fee address, or other
 Correspondence         correspondence related to maintenance fees, except
                        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

   * Payment of maintenance fees in patents (Attn: Maintenance Fee) and
deposit account replenishment (Attn: Deposit Accounts) using hand-delivery
and delivery by private courier may be made to:

        Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
        Attn: _______
        One Crystal Park
        2011 Crystal Drive, Suite 307
        Arlington, Virginia 22202.