| Mail Issues, Office Closures, Postal Emergencies, etc. |
Referenced Items (6, 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, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119) |
(20) Closing of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
on Tuesday, December 24, 2019
In view of the official closing of the Federal Government offices in the
Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, including the United States Patent and
Trademark Office (USPTO), on Tuesday, December 24, 2019, the USPTO will
consider Tuesday, December 24, 2019, to be a "Federal holiday within the
District of Columbia" under 35 U.S.C. § 21 and 37 C.F.R. §§ 1.6, 1.7,
1.9, 2.2(d), 2.195, and 2.196. Since Wednesday, December 25, 2019, is a
holiday, any action or fee due on Tuesday, December 24, 2019, or Wednesday,
December 25, 2019, will be deemed as timely for the purposes of, e.g.,
15 U.S.C. §§ 1051(d), 1058, 1059, 1062(b), 1063, 1064, 1126(d), and 1141k,
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, Thursday, December 26, 2019 (37 C.F.R. §§ 1.7(a) and 2.196), no later
than 11:59 pm ET.
As indicated in the preceding paragraph, the USPTO will consider actions
or fees due on Tuesday, December 24, 2019, or Wednesday, December 25, 2019,
to be timely if taken or paid on the next business day on which the USPTO
is open, that is, Thursday, December 26, 2019. An actual filing date of
Tuesday, December 24, 2019, or Wednesday, December 25, 2019, also is
available under existing procedures. Specifically, 37 C.F.R. §§ 1.6(a)(2),
2.195(a)(4), and 2.198 provide that any correspondence properly deposited
in the Priority Mail Express® service of the United States Postal Service
(USPS) in accordance with 37 C.F.R. §§ 1.10 or 2.198 will be deemed filed
on the date of deposit (as shown by the "date accepted" on the mailing
label) with the USPS. Thus, any correspondence properly deposited in the
Priority Mail Express® service of the USPS on Tuesday, December 24, 2019,
or Wednesday, December 25, 2019, in accordance with 37 C.F.R. §§ 1.10 or
2.198, will be deemed filed on its respective date of deposit in the
Priority Mail Express® service of the USPS (as shown by a "date accepted"
of Tuesday, December 24, 2019, or Wednesday, December 25, 2019 on the
mailing label). See the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP) § 513
and the Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (TMEP) § 305.03. For
correspondence being mailed or transmitted with a certificate of mailing or
transmission in accordance with 37 C.F.R. § 1.8 and 2.197, see MPEP § 512
and TMEP § 305.02, respectively.
In addition, 37 C.F.R. §§ 1.6(a)(4) and 2.195(a)(2) provide that
patent- and trademark-related correspondence transmitted electronically to
the USPTO will be deemed filed in the USPTO on the date the USPTO received
the electronic transmission. Thus, any patent- or trademark-related
correspondence transmitted electronically to the USPTO on Tuesday,
December 24, 2019, or Wednesday, December 25, 2019, will be deemed filed in
the USPTO on the date the USPTO received the electronic transmission.
Patent correspondence successfully received by the USPTO through the
Electronic Filing System (EFS-Web) and filed in compliance with the EFS-Web
Legal Framework will receive the date indicated on the Acknowledgement
Receipt. See MPEP § 502.05 and the USPTO website. Trademark filings
properly filed through TEAS, TEASi, and ESTTA will receive the date
indicated in the e-mail confirmation sent at the time of a successful
filing. See TMEP § 301 and Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Manual of
Procedure § 110.09 regarding electronic filing.
December 23, 2019 LAURA PETER
Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and
Acting Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
[1471 OG 64]
Top of Notices (20) December 28, 2021