United States Patent and Trademark Office OG Notices: 21 September 2004
SPECIAL MAIL STOPS FOR PATENT MAIL
Revisions have been made to the list of mail stops. The mail stops that
should no longer be used are: Mail Stop Application Number, Mail Stop CPA,
Mail Stop Design, Mail Stop Non-Fee Amendment, Mail Stop PGPUB-ABD, Mail
Stop Patent Application, and Mail Stop Provisional Patent Application.
Mail Stop Non-Fee Amendment has been changed to Mail Stop Amendment.
In addition, Mail Stop PGPUB-ABD has been changed to Mail Stop Express
Abandonment and all requests and petitions for an express abandonment under
37 CFR 1.138 should be directed to Mail Stop Express Abandonment or
transmitted by facsimile to (703) 305-8568. Lastly, Mail Stop L&R and Mail
Stop Post Issue have been established.
For most correspondence (e.g., new patent applications) no mail stop
is required because the processing of the correspondence is routine.
If NO mail stop is included on the list below, then NO mail stop is
required for the correspondence. Special mail stop designations
should only be used for particular types of mail that may be
forwarded to the appropriate area without being opened, or that may be
processed with the remaining mail. Only the specified type of document
should be placed in an envelope addressed to one of these
special mail stops. If any documents other than the specified type
identified for each special mail stop are addressed to that mail stop,
they will be significantly delayed in reaching the appropriate area for
which they are intended. The mail stop should generally appear as the
first line in the address.
Petitions for a foreign filing license may be faxed to: 703-305-7658.
Some correspondence may be submitted electronically. See the
Office's Internet Web site http://www.uspto.gov for additional information.
Please address mail to be delivered by the United States Postal Service
(USPS) as follows:
Mail Stop _______
Commissioner for Patents
P.O. Box 1450
Alexandria, VA 22313-1450
Except correspondence for Maintenance Fee payments, Deposit Account
Replenishments (see 1.25(c)(4), and Licensing and Review (see CFR 5.1(c)
and 5.2(c)), please address mail to be delivered by other delivery services
(Federal Express (Fed Ex), UPS, DHL, Laser, Action, Purolator, etc.) as
follows:
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
220 20th Street South
Customer Window, Mail Stop _______
Crystal Plaza Two, Lobby, Room 1B03
Arlington, VA 22202
Note: The Customer Window will be moving to the new Alexandria location
in August or September of 2004.
Mail Stop Designations Explanation
Mail Stop 12 Contributions to the Examiner Education Program.
Mail Stop 313(c) Petitions under 37 CFR 1.313(c) to withdraw a
patent application from issue after payment of the
issue fee and any papers associated with the
petition, including papers necessary for a
continuing application or a request for continued
examination (RCE).
Mail Stop AF Amendments and other responses after final
rejection, other than an appeal brief.
Mail Stop Information disclosure statments, drawings
Amendment and replies to Office actions in patent
applications with or without an amendment to the
application or a terminal disclaimer. (Use Mail
Stop AF for replies after final rejection.).
Mail Stop Appeal For appeal briefs under 37 CFR 1.192 or reply
Brief-Patents briefs under 37 CFR 1.193(a).
Mail Stop Public comments regarding patent related
Comments-Patents regulations and procedures.
Mail Stop Conversion Requests under 37 CFR 1.53(c)(2) to convert a
nonprovisional application to a provisional
application and requests under 37 CFR 1.53(c)(3)
to convert a provisional application to a
nonprovisional application.
Mail Stop DD Disclosure Documents or materials related to the
Disclosure Document Program. (A disclosure document
is NOT an information disclosure statement.)
Instead of filing a disclosure document, inventors
are encouraged to file a provisional patent
application.
Mail Stop EBC Mail for the Electronic Business Center including:
Certificate Action Forms, Request for Customer
Numbers, and Requests for Customer Number Data
Change (USPTO Forms PTO-2042, PTO/SB/124A and 125A,
respectively) and Customer Number Upload
Spreadsheets and Cover Letters.
Mail Stop Expedited Only to be used for the initial filing of design
Design applications accompanied by a request for expedited
examination under 37 CFR 1.155. (Design applicants
seeking expedited examination may alternatively
file a design application and corresponding request
under 37 CFR 1.155 by hand-delivering the
application papers and request directly to the
Design Group Director's office.)
Mail Stop Express Requests for abandonment of a patent application
Abandonment pursuant to 37 CFR 1.138, including any petitions
under 37 CFR 1.138(c) to expressly abandon an
application to avoid publication of the
application. (This new mail stop should be used
instead of Mail Stop PGPUB-ABD. Applicants are
encouraged to transmit the requests by facsimile to
(703) 305-8568.)
Mail Stop ILS Correspondence relating to international patent
classification, exchanges and standards.
Mail Stop Issue Fee All communications following the receipt of a
PTOL-85, "Notice of Allowance and Fee(s) Due", and
prior to the issuance of a patent should be
addressed to Mail Stop Issue Fee, unless advised to
the contrary.
Assignments are the exception. Assignments (with
cover sheets) should be faxed to (703)306-5995,
electronically submitted, or submitted in a
separate envelope and be sent to Mail Stop
Assignment Recordation Services, Director -
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as shown below.
Mail Stop L&R All documents pertaining to applications subject
secrecy order pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 181, or are
national-security classified and required to be
processed accordingly.
Such papers may also be hand carried to:
Technology Center 3600, Office of the Director
2451 Crystal Drive, Room 3D07
Arlington, VA 22202
Mail Stop Missing Requests for a corrected filing receipt and
Parts replies to OIPE notices such as the Notice of
Omitted Items, Notice to File Corrected Application
Papers, Notice of Incomplete Application, Notice to
Comply with Nucleotide Sequence Requirements, and
Notice to File Missing Parts of Application, and
associated papers and fees.
Mail Stop MPEP Submissions concerning the Manual of Patent
Examining Procedure.
Mail Stop Patent Ext. Applications for patent term extension and any
communications relating thereto.
Mail Stop PCT Mail related to applications filed under the Patent
Cooperation Treaty.
Mail Stop Petition Petitions to be decided by the Office of Petitions
including petitions to revive and petitions to
accept late payment of issue fees or maintenance
fees.
Mail Stop PGPUB Correspondence regarding publication of patent
applications not otherwise provided, including
requests for early publication made after filing,
rescission of non-publication request, corrected
patent application publication, refund of
publication fee.
Mail Stop Post Issue In patented files: requests for changes of
correspondence address, powers of attorney,
revocations of powers of attorney, withdrawal
of attorney and submissions under 37 CFR 1.501.
Designation of, or changes to, a fee address should
be addressed to Mail Stop M Correspondence.
Requests for Certificate of Correction need no
special mail stop, but should be made to the
attention of Certificate of Correction Branch.
Mail Stop RCE Requests for continued examination under 37 CFR
1.114.
Mail Stop Correspondence pertaining to the reconstruction of
Reconstruction lost patent files.
Mail Stop Ex Parte Requests for Reexamination for original request
Reexam papers only.
Mail Stop Inter Requests for Inter Partes Reexamination for
Partes Reexam original request papers and for all subsequent
correspondence other than correspondence to the
Office of the Solicitor (see 37 CFR 1.1(a)(3) and
1.302(c)).
Mail Stop Reissue All new and continuing reissue application filings.
Mail Stop Sequence Submission of the computer readable form (CRF) for
applications with sequence listings, when the CRF
is not being filed with the patent application.
ADDRESS FOR TRADEMARK MAIL
The box designations previously listed in Trademark Manual of Examining
Procedure, Section 305.01 are no longer in use. See Change of Address for
Mailing Trademark Correpsondence, which is posted on the USPTO Internet web
site at: http://www.uspto.gov/web/trademarks/tmmailingaddressnotice.htm.
Please address mail to be delivered by the United States Postal Service
(USPS) as follows:
Commissioner for Trademarks
2900 Crystal Drive
Arlington, Virginia 22202-3514
SPECIAL MAIL STOPS APPLICABLE TO
BOTH PATENT AND TRADEMARK MAIL
The following special mail stop designations are applicable to both
patent and trademark related mail, and the recommendations for "Special
Mail Stops for Patent Mail" (above) should be followed for the types of
mail listed below.
Please address mail to be directed to a mail stop identified below to be
delivered by the United States Postal Service (USPS) as follows (unless
otherwise instructed):
Mail Stop _______
Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
P.O. Box 1450
Alexandria, VA 22313-1450
Mail Stop
Designations Explanation
Mail Stop 3 Mail for the Office of Personnel from NFC.
Mail Stop 6 Mail for the Office of Procurement.
Mail Stop 8 All papers for the Office of the Solicitor except
communications relating to pending litigation and
disciplinary proceedings; papers relating to
pending litigation in court cases shall be mailed
only to Office of the Solicitor, P.O. Box 15667,
Arlington, VA 22215 and papers related to pending
disciplinary proceedings before the Administrative
Law Judge or the Director shall be mailed only to
the Office of the Solicitor, P.O. Box 16116,
Arlington, VA 22215.
Mail Stop 11 Mail for the Electronic Ordering Service (EOS).
Mail Stop 13 Mail for the Employee and Labor Relations Division.
Mail Stop 16 Mail related to refund requests, other than
requests for refund of a patent application
publication fee. Such requests should be directed
to Mail Stop PGPub.
Mail Stop 17 Invoices directed to the Office of Finance.
Mail Stop 24 Mail for the Inventor's Assistance Program,
including complaints about Invention Promoters.
Mail Stop 171 Vacancy Announcement Applications.
Mail Stop All assignment documents, security interests, and
Assignment other documents to be recorded in the Assignment
Recordation records. Note that documents with cover sheets that
Services are faxed to (703) 306-5995 or submitted
electronically are processed much more quickly than
those submitted by mail.
Mail Stop Mail for the Office of Congressional Relations.
Congressional
Relations
Mail Stop Document All requests for certified or uncertified copies of
Services patent or trademark documents.
Mail Stop EEO Mail for the Office of Civil Rights.
Mail Stop Mail for the Office of Enforcement.
Enforcement
Mail Stop Communications relating to interferences and
Interference applications and patents involved in interference.
Mail Stop Mail for the Office of International Relations.
International
Relations
Mail Stop M Mail to designate or change a fee address, or other
Correspondence correspondence related to maintenance fees, except
payments of maintenance fees in patents. See below
for the address for maintenance fee payments.
Mail Stop OED Mail for the Office of Enrollment and Discipline.
Maintenance Fee Payments
Payments* of maintenance fees in patents not submitted electronically
over the Internet at www.uspto.gov should be mailed to:
United States Patent and Trademark Office
P.O. Box 371611
Pittsburgh, PA 15250-1611
Deposit Account Replenishments
To send payment* to replenish deposit accounts, send the payments to:
Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
P.O. Box 70541
Chicago, IL 60673
* Payment of maintenance fees in patents (Attn: Maintenance Fee) and
deposit account replenishment (Attn: Deposit Accounts) using hand-delivery
and delivery by private courier may be made to:
Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
Attn: _______
One Crystal Park
2011 Crystal Drive, Suite 307
Arlington, Virginia 22202.