Applicability
Applicants who filed, or need to file, a patent application by an alternative filing method during an unplanned electronic business system outage that has been designated a significant unplanned electronic business system outage by the Director of the USPTO. Applicants who were, or are, able to file applications via the USPTO patent electronic filing system during the designated outage period do not need to do anything.
Background
The USPTO has a procedure for filing patent applications by alternative electronic means during unplanned electronic business system outages that are designated significant unplanned electronic business system outages by the Director of the USPTO. Upon compliance with the procedure, an application not filed via the USPTO patent electronic filing system (for example, applications filed via USPS Priority Mail Express® or hand-delivery) will be treated as being filed by the USPTO’s patent electronic filing system, including treatment as an application filed by electronic means for purposes of section 10(h) of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act and eligibility for a refund of the non-electronic filing fee.
Overview of the procedure for completing alternative electronic filing
- A copy of the application must be filed via the USPTO patent electronic filing system as a follow-on paper and must be accompanied by a statement that it is a true copy of the original application filed in paper (e.g., USPS Priority Mail Express® or hand-delivery).
- The USPTO form, PTO/SB/448, should be used. When attaching the form, please use the document description "Refund Request for Papers Filed During a Designated Outage”. Form PTO/SB/448 includes the required statement and request for refund.
- The copy of the application includes the specification, including claims, the drawings, the abstract, and any preliminary amendments present on the filing date of the application.
- In addition, if the application was filed with a sequence listing or a computer program listing in paper, then a copy of the sequence listing or the computer program listing must also be submitted electronically via the USPTO patent electronic filing system.
- Furthermore, any other papers that were submitted with the application on filing, such as an Information Disclosure Statement (IDS), an Application Data Sheet (ADS), or the inventor’s oath or declaration, should not be resubmitted.
- Since a true copy of the original application is required, applicant must not make any changes to the application papers. If changes are desired, a preliminary amendment may be submitted later as a separate submission.
- Applicants should wait until a filing receipt has been issued before following this procedure.
Resources
- Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
- Form PTO/SB/448
Certification and request to treat an application filed during a designated significant unplanned electronic business system outage as an application filed by the USPTO’s patent electronic filing system - Federal Register Notice, 83 FR 44264 (Aug. 30, 2018)
The Director designated the unplanned electronic business system outage from August 15, 2018, through and including August 23, 2018, as a significant unplanned electronic business system outage. - Filing documents during an outage
Contacts
If you need assistance with electronic filing, please contact the Patent Electronic Business Center at ebc@uspto.gov or 866-217-9197. For legal or policy questions about the procedure, please contact the Office of Patent Legal Administration at 571-272-7701
.