| 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) |
(47) Relief Available to Patent and Trademark Applicants, Patentees and
Trademark Owners Affected by Hurricane Sandy
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) considers the
October and November 2012 effects of Hurricane Sandy in Connecticut,
Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina,
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Maryland, Virginia, the District of Columbia,
and the Appalachian region to be an "extraordinary situation" within the
meaning of 37 CFR 1.183 and 37 CFR 2.146 for affected patent and trademark
applicants, patentees, reexamination parties, and trademark owners.
For patent applications and reexamination proceedings pending in the
USPTO as of October 29, 2012, having one or more inventors, an assignee, or
a correspondence address in areas of Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts,
New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Maryland,
Virginia, the District of Columbia, and the Appalachian region affected by
Hurricane Sandy, in which a reply or response to an Office action (final,
non-final, or other), a notice of allowance, or other Office notice
(hereinafter collectively referred to as "Office communication") is
outstanding, and for which the statutory or non-statutory time period set
for response has not yet expired, the USPTO will, on applicant's request,
or a reexamination party's request, withdraw the Office communication and
reissue it. The Office communication must have been outstanding on October
29, 2012. The request must be made prior to expiration of the statutory or
non-statutory time period set for response and within sufficient time so
that withdrawal and reissuance of the Office communication occur prior to
expiration of the statutory or non-statutory time period (as permitted to
be extended under 37 CFR 1.136(a), or as extended under 37 CFR 1.550(c) or
37 CFR 1.956). The request must be accompanied by a copy of this notice in
order to permit the Office to quickly identify it as a request for relief
and facilitate timely processing. The inclusion of a copy of this notice
will be treated as a representation that the need for the reissuance of the
Office communication was due to the effects of Hurricane Sandy in October
and November 2012. The request should be sent via EFS-Web or by mail
directed to Mail Stop Petition, Commissioner for Patents, P.O. Box 1450,
Alexandria, VA 22313-1450.
For patentees who were unable to timely pay a patent maintenance fee due
to the effects of Hurricane Sandy in October and November 2012, the USPTO
will waive the surcharge in 37 CFR 1.20(h) for paying a maintenance fee
during the six-month grace period following the window to pay the
maintenance fee and the surcharge in 37 CFR 1.20(i) for accepting a delayed
maintenance fee payment when the patentee files the maintenance fee payment
with a petition to accept a delayed maintenance fee under 37 CFR 1.378(c).
See 37 CFR 1.183.
Patentees who seek to pay a maintenance fee during the six-month grace
period following the window to pay the maintenance fee with a request to
waive the surcharge in 37 CFR 1.20(h), must mail the payment and request
to: Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Attn:
Maintenance Fee, 2051 Jamieson Avenue, Suite 300, Alexandria, VA 22314; or
via facsimile to: 571-273-6500.
The request must be accompanied by a copy of this notice in order to
permit the Office to quickly identify it as a request for relief and
facilitate timely processing. The inclusion of a copy of this notice with
the payment of the maintenance fee during the grace period will be treated
as a representation that the late payment of the fee was due to the effects
of Hurricane Sandy in October and November 2012, and as a request for sua
sponte waiver of the surcharge under 37 CFR 1.20(h). This waiver may only
be appropriately requested where the original window of time to pay the
maintenance fee without the surcharge required by 37 CFR 1.20(h) expired on
or after October 29, 2012, and the delay in paying the fee was due to the
effects of Hurricane Sandy in October and November 2012.
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US PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE |
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The USPTO advises patentees who need to file a petition to accept a
delayed maintenance fee payment due to the effects of Hurricane Sandy in
October and November 2012, where the maintenance fee payment was required
to have been paid after October 28, 2012, to promptly file a petition under
37 CFR 1.378(c) (using USPTO form PTO/SB/66 - Petition to Accept
Unintentionally Delayed Payment of Maintenance Fee in an Expired Patent (37
CFR 1.378(c)) accompanied by the applicable maintenance fee payment (but
not the surcharge under 37 CFR 1.20(i)) and a copy of this notice. The
inclusion of a copy of this notice will be treated as a representation that
the delay in payment of the maintenance fee was due to the effects of
Hurricane Sandy in October and November 2012, and as a request for sua
sponte waiver of the surcharge under 37 CFR 1.20(i). The petition must be
filed by October 29, 2013, in order to be entitled to a waiver of the
surcharge under 37 CFR 1.20(i).
Patentees are reminded that a petition to accept a delayed maintenance
fee payment under 37 CFR 1.378(c) must be filed within twenty-four months
from the expiration date of the patent. See 35 U.S.C. 41(c). A petition to
accept a delayed maintenance fee payment under 37 CFR 1.378(c) due to the
effects of Hurricane Sandy may be submitted via EFS-Web or by mail directed
to Mail Stop Petition, Commissioner for Patents, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria,
VA 22313-1450. A petition to accept a delayed maintenance fee payment filed
later than twenty-four months after the expiration date of the patent must
be filed under 37 CFR 1.378(b) and include a showing that the delay in
payment was unavoidable. The USPTO will not waive the surcharge in 37 CFR
1.20(i) for accepting a delayed maintenance fee payment when the patentee
files the maintenance fee payment with a petition to accept a delayed
maintenance fee under 37 CFR 1.378(b).
For applicants who filed a nonprovisional application on or after
October 29, 2012, and prior to November 30, 2012, without an executed oath
or declaration or payment of the basic filing fee, search fee, and/or
examination fee due to Hurricane Sandy in October and November 2012, the
USPTO will waive the surcharge set forth in 37 CFR 1.16(f) for the late
filing of the oath or declaration or basic filing fee, search fee, and/or
examination fee. Patent applicants seeking waiver of the surcharge must
include a copy of this notice, along with the executed oath or declaration
or the basic filing fee, search fee, or examination fee, in order to permit
the Office to quickly identify it as a request for relief and facilitate
timely processing. The inclusion of a copy of this notice will be treated
as a representation that the late filing of the oath or declaration or the
basic filing fee, search fee, or examination fee was due to the effects of
Hurricane Sandy in October and November 2012, and as a request for sua
sponte waiver of the surcharge under 37 CFR 1.16(f). The reply to the
Notice to File Missing Parts requiring the oath or declaration or the
filing fees may be submitted via EFS-Web or by mail directed to Mail Stop
Missing Parts, Commissioner for Patents, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA
22313-1450.
Patent-related inquiries concerning this notice may be directed to the
Office of Patent Legal Administration at (571) 272-7704 ((571) 272-7703 for
reexamination), or by e-mail to PatentPractice@uspto.gov.
For trademark applications and registrations with a correspondence or
owner address in areas of Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey,
New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Maryland, Virginia,
the District of Columbia, and the Appalachian region affected by Hurricane
Sandy in October and November 2012, in which an Office action (final,
non-final, or other), a notice of allowance, or other Office notice
requiring a response (hereinafter collectively referred to as "Office
communication") is outstanding, the USPTO will, upon request, withdraw the
Office communication and reissue it. The request must be made prior to the
deadline for responding to the Office communication, and represent that the
need for the reissuance of the Office communication is due to the effects
of Hurricane Sandy in October and November 2012. The request should be sent
via e-mail to TMFeedback@uspto.gov, or by mail to Commissioner for
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Trademarks, P.O. Box 1451, Alexandria, VA 22313-1451. If necessary, changes
of correspondence address should be provided.
For trademark applications and registrations with a correspondence or
owner address in areas of Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey,
New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Maryland, Virginia,
the District of Columbia, and the Appalachian region affected by Hurricane
Sandy as of October 29, 2012, that were abandoned or cancelled due to
inability to timely respond to a trademark-related Office communication due
to the effects of Hurricane Sandy in October and November 2012, the USPTO
will waive the petition fee (set by regulation, rather than statute) to
revive the abandoned application or cancelled registration. Either a
petition by regular mail to the address set forth in the preceding
paragraph, or the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) "Request
for Reinstatement" form should be used, and must include a verified
statement that the failure to respond to the Office communication was due
to the effects of Hurricane Sandy.
Trademark-related inquiries concerning this notice may be directed to
the Trademark Office of Petitions by telephone at (571) 272-8950, by
facsimile at (571) 273-8950, or by e-mail at TMFeedback@uspto.gov.
The USPTO cannot grant waivers or extensions of dates or requirements
set by statute. For example, the following patent-related time periods
cannot be extended by the Director: (1) the period set forth in 35 U.S.C.
119(a)-(d) to file a nonprovisional patent application claiming the benefit
of a prior-filed foreign application; (2) the twelve-month time period set
forth in 35 U.S.C. 119(e) during which a nonprovisional application
claiming the benefit of a prior filed provisional application must be filed
in order to obtain benefit of the provisional application's filing date;
(3) the copendency requirement of 35 U.S.C. 120 between a parent
application which issues as a patent and a later filed child application,
which requires that the child application be filed prior to issuance of the
parent application; (4) the three-month time period to pay the issue fee
set forth in 35 U.S.C. 151; (5) the 35 U.S.C. 304 two-month time period
from the date of patentee service, for a requester to file, in an ex parte
reexamination, a reply to a statement filed by the patentee; and (6) the
35 U.S.C. 314(b)(2) thirty-day time period from the date of service, for a
requester to file, in an inter partes reexamination, written comments
addressing issues raised by an Office action or the patentee's response to
the action. The following statutory trademark-related time periods cannot
be extended and statutory fees cannot be waived by the Director: (1) the
36-month period set forth in 15 U.S.C. 1051(d) within which a statement of
use must be filed and the associated fee(s); (2) the periods set forth in
15 U.S.C. 1058, 1141(k) for filing affidavits of continued use or excusable
nonuse and the associated fee(s); (3) the period set forth in 15 U.S.C.
1059 for filing a renewal and the associated fee(s); and (4) the periods
set forth in 15 U.S.C. 1063 and 1064 for filing an opposition or
cancellation proceeding at the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.
November 21, 2012 DAVID J. KAPPOS
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and
Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
[1385 OG 119]