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(14) Closing of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
on Monday, October 29, 2012, and Tuesday, October 30, 2012
In view of the official closing of the Federal Government offices in the
Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, including the United States Patent and
Trademark Office (USPTO), on Monday, October 29, 2012, and Tuesday, October
30, 2012, the USPTO will consider both Monday, October 29, 2012, and
Tuesday, October 30, 2012, to be a "Federal holiday within the District of
Columbia" under 35 U.S.C. § 21 and 37 C.F.R. §§ 1.6, 1.7, 1.9, 2.2(d),
2.195 and 2.196. Any action or fee due on Monday, October 29, 2012, or
Tuesday, October 30, 2012 (or the preceding Saturday (October 27, 2012) or
Sunday (October 28, 2012)) will be considered as timely for the purposes
of, e.g., 15 U.S.C. §§ 1051(b), 1058, 1059, 1062(b), 1063, 1064, and
1126(d), or 35 U.S.C. §§ 119, 120, 133 and 151, if the action was taken,
or the fee paid, on the next succeeding business day on which the USPTO was
open, that is, Wednesday, October 31, 2012 (37 C.F.R. §§ 1.7(a) and 2.196).
37 C.F.R. §§ 1.6(a)(2), 2.195(a)(4) and 2.198 provide that certain
correspondence deposited in the Express Mail Service of the United States
Postal Service (USPS) in accordance with 37 C.F.R. §§ 1.10 or 2.198 will be
considered filed on the date of deposit (as shown by the "date-in" on the
Express Mail mailing label) with the USPS. Thus, any paper or fee properly
deposited in the Express Mail Service of the USPS on Monday, October 29,
2012, or Tuesday, October 30, 2012, in accordance with 37 C.F.R. §§ 1.10 or
2.198 will be considered filed on its respective date of deposit in the
Express Mail Service of the USPS (as shown by a "date-in" of October 29,
2012, or October 30, 2012, on the Express Mail mailing label).
37 C.F.R. §§ 1.6(a)(4) and 2.195(a)(2) provide that patent and
trademark-related correspondence transmitted electronically to the USPTO
will be considered filed in the USPTO on the date the USPTO received the
electronic transmission. Thus, any patent and/or trademark-related
correspondence transmitted electronically to the USPTO on Monday, October
29, 2012, or Tuesday, October 30, 2012, will be considered filed in the
USPTO on the date the USPTO received the complete electronic transmission.
Patent correspondence successfully received by the USPTO through the
Electronic Filing System (EFS-Web) and filed in compliance with the EFS-Web
Legal Framework will receive the date as indicated on the Acknowledgement
Receipt. See the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP) § 502.05 and
the USPTO Web site at
www.uspto.gov/patents/process/file/efs/guidance/New_legal_framework.jsp.
November 2, 2012 DAVID J. KAPPOS
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and
Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
[1384 OG 203]
Top of Notices (14) December 31, 2013