| Mail Issues, Office Closures, Postal Emergencies, etc. |
Referenced Items (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81) |
(20) Closing of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
on Thursday, February 13, 2014
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 Thursday, February 13, 2014, the USPTO will
consider Thursday, February 13, 2014, 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 Thursday, February 13,
2014, 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, Friday,
February 14, 2014 (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 (now "Priority Mail
Express") 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" or "date accepted" on the mailing label) with the
USPS. Thus, any paper or fee properly deposited in the Express Mail Service
("Priority Mail Express") of the USPS on Thursday, February 13, 2014, 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 ("Priority Mail
Express") of the USPS (as shown by a "date-in" or "date accepted" of
February 13, 2014, on the 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 Thursday,
February 13, 2014, will be considered filed in the USPTO on the date the
USPTO received the 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.
Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) filings will receive the
date indicated in the e-mail confirmation sent at the time of a successful
filing.
April 8, 2014 MICHELLE K. LEE
Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for
Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the
United States Patent and Trademark Office
[1402 OG 105]
Top of Notices (20) December 29, 2015