Below are the general filing requirements for an ePetition requesting to withdraw as attorney or agent of record, pursuant to 37 CFR 1.36:
- Only registered users of the Patent Electronic System may file this petition as an ePetition.
- The user must enter a valid U.S. application number.
- The application number entered must not be for an issued patent.
- The application must not be in an abandoned status.
- The user must have power of attorney over the entered application number.
- A valid attorney Registration Number must be used.
- If power of attorney is assigned to a customer number, then the user will be required to change the correspondence address. Note that you must direct all future correspondence to a specific customer number or you will need to provide the correspondence address of the first named inventor or assignee that has properly made itself of record pursuant to 37 CFR 1.71. If directing all future correspondence to a new customer number, such cannot be the customer number of a law firm, but rather must be the customer number of the applicant or assignee of record.
- If power of attorney is assigned to individual attorney registration numbers, then the user will not be required to change the correspondence address unless all attorneys of record are being withdrawn.
NOTE: A successful ePetition submission will result in an Electronic Acknowledgement Receipt and Grant Letter being generated. Petitioners should verify that the information on the Electronic Acknowledgement Receipt and Grant Letter is complete and accurate as proof that the ePetition submission was successful.
Additional information on petitions to withdraw as attorney or agent of record under 37 CFR 1.36 is available on the Common types of petitions handled by the Office of Petitions web page. In addition, there is a demonstration video which includes a step-by-step demonstration on EFS-Web that illustrates how quick and easy it is to submit the Request for Withdrawal as Attorney or Agent of Record (37 CFR 1.36) via ePetition.