FOIA and Privacy Act Requests: How to Submit

How to Submit a FOIA and/or Privacy Act Request to the USPTO

The request must be in writing. No telephone requests will be accepted.

If you do not know the exact title of the document you are seeking, you should provide a reasonable description of the document. The more information that you can provide about the document, such as its author or date, the more expeditiously your request will be processed.

Your request will be logged and a tracking number assigned to it. The tracking number assigned is of great importance to you as a requester because, in the event you would like to check the status of your request, it enables us to locate where in the process your request is.

FOIA and/or Privacy Act Requests Should Be Submitted:

In any e-mail request, please state that the request is made pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act or Privacy Act and/or describe the records sought. Failure to do so may result in your e-mail not being identified as a FOIA or Privacy Act request. The FOIARequests@uspto.gov e-mail address is for FOIA and Privacy Act submissions and related questions only.

*The USPTO FOIA Office will typically issue an acknowledgement of receipt of your request within a few days. If you have not received any correspondence from the USPTO within 10 days of sending your request electronically, please contact us at FOIARequests@uspto.gov or resubmit your request using FOIA.gov.

For Privacy Act requests, please have your request notarized before submitting, or provide a copy of a government-issued identification along with your request. See 37 C.F.R. § 102.24 for more information. If you cannot comply with these requirements, please consult with the USPTO FOIA Office.

For general comments, please refer to the following USPTO website address:

https://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/support-centers/uspto-contact-center-ucc

In the unusual circumstance that a record is not reasonably available in a format suitable for e-mail transmission, the USPTO may request a mailing address if you have not provided one. Failure to provide a mailing address could result in a delay in processing your request.

To check the status of a FOIA or Privacy Act Request, please wait until you have received acknowledgement that the USPTO has received your request and assigned it a request number (or if you have not received an acknowledgement or other contact from the USPTO within 10 business days of submitting your request, feel free to call). If you have questions or want to check the status of your request, you may email FOIARequests@uspto.gov or call 571-272-7000 and ask for FOIA assistance. Please identify your request number when you call or email. Most requests are fulfilled within 20 business days. If a request is going to take additional time due to complexity or volume, someone from our team will reach out to you.

Privacy Act Statement:

The collection, maintenance, and disclosure of this information is governed by the Privacy Act (PA) of 1974 (5 U.S.C. § 552a).

AUTHORITY: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552, and the Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C.§ 552a, as amended.

PURPOSE: The primary purpose for providing the requested information on this form is to request access to information under the FOIA and/or PA, or amendment or correction of records under the PA. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) uses the information to grant or deny your request.

ROUTINE USES: The USPTO will use the information collected to identify records responsive to a FOIA and/or PA request, and to provide copies of records to the requester. The information provided may be disclosed to another agency (a) with interest in the record in connection with a referral of a FOIA request to that agency for its views or decisions on disclosure or (b) to consult with and obtain recommendations concerning matters on which the agency has specialized experience or particular competence that may be useful to the USPTO in making required determinations under the FOIA or (c) to a debt collection agency to collect outstanding debts owed to the USPTO for fees associated with processing FOIA and combined FOIA and PA requests. The USPTO may also include some information in a publicly available log of FOIA requests.

The information will be maintained, and any disclosures will be made in accordance with the Department of Commerce’s Privacy Act system of records notice DEPT-5, Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act Request Records, available at: www.commerce.gov/opog/privacy/SORN/SORN-DEPT-5.

DISCLOSURE: Furnishing the requested information is voluntary; however, failure to provide the requested information may result in a delay or inability of the Department to process your FOIA and combined FOIA and PA requests.