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) |
(15) Closing of the United States
Patent and Trademark Office on
Monday, December 24, 2007
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will be closed on
Monday, December 24, 2007. Since Tuesday, December 25, 2007 is a Federal
holiday, the USPTO will consider both Monday, December 24, 2007 and
Tuesday, December 25, 2007, 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 (or the preceding
Saturday (December 22, 2007) or Sunday (December 23, 2007)) 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, Wednesday, December 26, 2007. 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 Monday, December 24,
2007, or Tuesday, December 25, 2007, 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 24,
2007, or December 25, 2007, 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 Monday, December
24, 2007, or Tuesday, December 25, 2007, 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.
December 14, 2007 JON W. DUDAS
Under Secretary of Commerce for
Intellectual Property and Director of the
United States Patent and Trademark Office
[1326 OG 103]