Mail Issues, Office Closures, Postal Emergencies, etc. |
Referenced Items (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55) |
(14) Closing of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
on Friday, December 26, 2008
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will be closed on
Friday, December 26, 2008. Since Thursday, December 25, 2008 is a Federal
holiday, the USPTO will consider both Thursday, December 25, 2008 and
Friday, December 26, 2008, to be a "Federal holiday within the District of
Columbia" under 35 U.S.C. § 21(b) and 37 C.F.R. §§ 1.6, 1.7, 1.9, 2.2(d),
2.195 and 2.196. Any action or fee due on these days will be considered as
timely for the purposes of, e.g., 15 U.S.C. §§ 1051(b), 1058, 1059,
1062(b), 1063, 1064, 1126(d), or 35 U.S.C. §§ 119, 120, 133 and 151, if the
action is taken, or the fee paid, on the next succeeding business day on
which the USPTO is open, that is, Monday, December 29, 2008. 37 C.F.R.
§§ 1.7(a) and 2.196.
37 C.F.R. §§ 1.6(a)(2), 2.195(a)(4) and 2.198 provide that
correspondence deposited in the Express Mail Service of the United States
Postal Service (USPS) in accordance with 37 C.F.R. §§ 1.10 or 2.198 will be
considered filed on the date of deposit (as shown by the "date-in" on the
Express Mail mailing label) with the USPS. Thus, any paper or fee properly
deposited in the Express Mail Service of the USPS on Thursday, December 25,
2008, or Friday, December 26, 2008, in accordance with 37 C.F.R. §§ 1.10 or
2.198 will be considered filed on its respective date of deposit in the
Express Mail Service of the USPS (as shown by a "date-in" of December 25,
2008, or December 26, 2008, on the Express Mail mailing label,
respectively).
37 C.F.R. § 1.6(a)(4) and 37 C.F.R. § 2.195(a)(2) provide that patent
and trademark-related correspondence transmitted electronically to the
USPTO will be considered filed in the USPTO on the date the USPTO received
the electronic transmission. Thus, any patent and/or trademark-related
correspondence transmitted electronically to the USPTO on Thursday,
December 25, 2008, or Friday, December 26, 2008, will be considered filed
in the USPTO on the date the USPTO received the complete electronic
transmission. Correspondence successfully received by the USPTO through the
patent Electronic Filing System (EFS-Web) will receive the date as
indicated on the Acknowledgment Receipt.
STEPHEN S. SMITH
Chief Administrative Officer
United States Patent and Trademark Office
[1340 OG 200]