| 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) |
(22) Closing of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
on Tuesday, December 10, 2013
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 Tuesday, December 10, 2013, the USPTO will
consider Tuesday, December 10, 2013, 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 Tuesday, December 10,
2013, 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, December 11, 2013 (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 Tuesday, December 10, 2013, 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
December 10, 2013, on the mailing label).
37 C.F.R. §§ 1.6(a)(4) and 2.195(a)(2) provide the 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 Tuesday, December 10, 2013, 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.
Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) filings will receive the
date indicated in the e-mail confirmation sent at the time of a successful
filing.
December 10, 2013 MARGARET A. FOCARINO
Commissioner for Patents
Performing the functions and duties of the
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and
Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
[1398 OG 192]
Top of Notices (22) December 29, 2015