Assignment of Confirmation Number
and
Time Period for Filing a Copy of an
Application by EFS for Eighteen-Month Publication Purposes
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office) recently
published a final rule to implement the eighteen-month publication
provisions of the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999. See Changes
to Implement Eighteen-Month Publication of Patent Applications, 65 Fed.
Reg. 57023 (Sept. 20, 2000), 1239 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 63 (Oct. 10, 2000)
(Notice of Final Rulemaking). The purpose of this notice is to advise
applicants that an electronic filing system (EFS) copy of an application
will be used in creating the patent application publication even if it is
submitted outside the period set forth in 37 CFR 1.215(c), provided that it
is submitted within one month of the mailing date of the first Filing
Receipt including a confirmation number for the application.
37 CFR 1.215 provides that the Office will use the EFS copy of an
application submitted by applicant to create the patent application
publication if applicant supplies the EFS copy within one month of the
actual filing date of the application or fourteen months of the earliest
filing date for which a benefit is sought, whichever is later. See 37 CFR
1.215(c). 37 CFR 1.215 also provides that if the Office has not started the
publication process, the Office may use an untimely filed EFS copy of an
application supplied by the applicant to create the patent application
publication. See 37 CFR 1.215(d).
The Office plans to issue a four-digit confirmation number for each
currently pending and newly filed application. This confirmation number,
in combination with the application number, will be used to verify the
accuracy of the application number and avoid misidentification of an
application due to a transposition error in the application number. The
Office will assign a confirmation number to each pending application and
notify the applicant of the confirmation number by a separate notice for
each pending application. This process of assigning confirmation numbers
in pending applications will begin in early December and is expected to be
completed by December 15, 2000. The Office will also assign a confirmation
number to each new application and notify the applicant of the confirmation
number on the Filing Receipt. The confirmation number will also be
available through the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR)
system (http://pair.uspto.gov). The Office eventually plans to include the
application's confirmation number (in addition to the application number)
on all Office actions and notices concerning the application.
This confirmation number must be used when submitting an EFS copy of the
application for publication to verify that the application number correctly
identifies the application for which a copy is being submitted for
publication. See Changes to Implement Eighteen-Month Publication of Patent
Applications, 65 Fed. Reg. at 57041, 1239 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office at 78-79
(response to comment 20). The Office also recommends that applicants
include the application's confirmation number (in addition to the
application number) on all correspondence submitted to the Office
concerning the application.
Since the Office requires the use of the confirmation number when
submitting an EFS copy of the application for publication, the Office will
use the EFS copy of the application submitted by applicant, rather than
application papers as recorded in the Office’s Patent Application Capture
and Review (PACR) database, to create the patent application publication,
provided that the applicant supplies the EFS copy within one month of the
mailing date of the first Filing Receipt including a confirmation number
for the application.
Inquiries regarding this notice should be directed to the Electronic
Business Center Customer Service Center at 703-305-3028 or 703-308-6845.
November 30, 2000
Nicholas P. Godici
Commissioner for Patents