United States Patent and Trademark Office OG Notices: 29 June 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.