| 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, 82, 83, 84) |
(14) Shutdown of Certain Electronic Systems of the
United States Patent and Trademark Office from
Tuesday, December 22, 2015 through Thursday, December 24, 2015
On December 22, 2015, at approximately 7:00 pm, the United States Patent
and Trademark Office (USPTO) experienced a major power outage at its
headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, resulting in damaged equipment that
required the subsequent shutdown of many USPTO online and information
technology systems. The USPTO is currently estimating that these systems
will be impacted through at least the Federal holiday on Friday, December
25, 2015. In light of this emergency situation, the USPTO will consider
each day from Tuesday, December 22, 2015, through Thursday, December 24,
2015, 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 these days 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 is
taken, or the fee paid, on the next succeeding business day on which the
USPTO is open (37 C.F.R. §§ 1.7(a) and 2.196). A subsequent notice is
anticipated to be issued as needed if the USPTO's systems are not fully
operational by Monday, December 28, 2015.
37 C.F.R. §§ 1.6(a)(2), 2.195(a)(4), and 2.198 provide that certain
correspondence deposited in the Priority Mail Express® 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 accepted" on the mailing label) with the USPS. Thus, any paper or fee
properly deposited in the Priority Mail Express® service of the USPS on
Tuesday, December 22, 2015, Wednesday, December 23, 2015, or Thursday,
December 24, 2015, in accordance with 37 C.F.R. §§ 1.10 or 2.198, will be
considered filed on its respective date of deposit in the Priority Mail
Express® service of the USPS (as shown by a "date accepted" 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- or trademark-related
correspondence transmitted electronically to the USPTO on Tuesday,
December 22, 2015, Wednesday, December 23, 2015, or Thursday, December 24,
2015, 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 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 filings properly filed through TEAS, TEASi, and ESTTA will
receive the date indicated in the e-mail confirmation sent at the time of a
successful filing.
December 23, 2015 MICHELLE K. LEE
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and
Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
[1422 OG 188]
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