United States Patent and Trademark Office OG Notices: 18 November 2003

               Emergency Closure of the Customer Service Window
                          On Friday, October 10, 2003

   On October 10, 2003, at approximately 5:00 p.m., the United
States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) facility at Crystal Plaza
Two (including the Customer Service Window) was evacuated due to fire.
The fire was confined to an electrical closet. No application files,
application data, or other correspondence or records were lost or
damaged.

   While the USPTO arranged for the acceptance of correspondence
at the Customer Service Window via the drop box, the USPTO did not
place any notice advising the public of the availability of the drop
box, and the USPTO did not reopen the Customer Service Window on
October 10, 2003. In light of this emergency situation, the USPTO will
consider October 10, 2003, as a "federal holiday within the District
of Columbia" for purposes of 35 U.S.C. 21. Therefore, any action
or fee due on Friday, October 10, 2003, will be considered timely for
the purposes of, e.g., 35 U.S.C. 119, 120, 133 and 151, if the
action were taken, or the fee was paid, on the next succeeding business
day on which the USPTO was open, that is, Tuesday, October 14, 2003.

   37 C.F.R. 1.6(a)(2) and 2.195(a)(4) provide that correspondence
deposited as Express Mail in accordance with 37 C.F.R. 1.10 or 2.198
will be considered as filed on the date of deposit with the United States
Postal Service (USPS). Thus, any paper or fee properly deposited in
accordance with 37 C.F.R. 1.10 or 2.198 with the Express Mail service
of the USPS on Friday, October 10, 2003 (that is, as shown by a "date-in"
of Friday, October 10, 2003, on the Express Mail mailing label) will be
considered filed in the USPTO on its date of deposit in the Express Mail
service of the USPS. 37 C.F.R. 2.195(a)(2) provides that trademark-related
correspondence transmitted electronically to the USPTO will be considered
filed in the USPTO on the date the USPTO receives the electronic
transmission. Thus, trademark-related correspondence transmitted
electronically on Friday, October 10, 2003, will be considered filed in
the USPTO on the date the USPTO received the electronic transmission.
Correspondence successfully received by the USPTO through the patent
Electronic Filing System will receive the date as indicated on the
Acknowledgment Receipt.

                                                             JAMES E. ROGAN
                                            Under Secretary of Commerce for
                                  Intellectual Property and Director of the
                                  United States Patent and Trademark Office