| 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) |
(48) Relief Available to Patent and Trademark Applicants,
Patentees and Trademark Owners Affected by the
Catastrophic Flooding in Thailand
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) considers the
effects of the severe flooding in Thailand that occurred in October and
November 2011, 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. Since this
catastrophic event occurred outside the United States and did not result in
a postal service interruption in the United States Postal Service, the USPTO
has no authority to designate a postal service emergency as authorized by
35 U.S.C. 21(a).
For patent applications and reexamination proceedings pending in the
USPTO as of November 12, 2011, having one or more inventors, an assignee,
or a correspondence address in areas of Thailand affected by the flooding,
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 November 12, 2011. 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. 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 the
severe flooding in October and November 2011. 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 the severe flooding in October and November 2011, 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. 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 the severe flooding in October and
November 2011, 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 November 12, 2011, and the
delay in paying the fee was due to the effects of the severe flooding in
October and November 2011.
The USPTO advises patentees who need to file a petition to accept a
delayed maintenance fee payment due to the effects of the flooding in
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October and November 2011, where the maintenance fee payment was required to
have been paid after November 11, 2011, 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 the severe flooding in October
and November 2011, and as a request for sua sponte waiver of the surcharge
under 37 CFR 1.20(i). The petition must be filed by November 12, 2012, 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 the severe flooding 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 November
12, 2011, and prior to December 13, 2011, without an executed oath or
declaration or payment of the basic filing fee, search fee, and/or
examination fee due to the severe flooding in October and November 2011, 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. 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 the severe flooding in October and November
2011, 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 Thailand affected by the severe flooding in October
and November 2011, 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 indicate that the need for the reissuance of the Office
communication is due to the effects of the severe flooding in October and
November 2011. The request should be sent via e-mail to TMFeedback@uspto.gov,
or by mail to Commissioner for 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 Thailand affected by the flooding as of November
12, 2011, that were abandoned or cancelled due to inability to timely respond
to a trademark-related Office communication due to the effects of the severe
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flooding in October and November 2011, 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 the flooding.
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.
January 25, 2012 DAVID J. KAPPOS
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and
Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
[1375 OG 188]