| 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, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94) |
(18) Closing of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
on Friday, March 2, 2018
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 Friday, March 2, 2018, the USPTO will consider
Friday, March 2, 2018, 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 Friday, March 2, 2018, will be
considered as timely for the purposes of, e.g., 15 U.S.C. §§ 1051(d), 1058,
1059, 1062(b), 1063, 1064, 1126(d), and 1141k, 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, Monday,
March 5, 2018 (37C.F.R. §§ 1.7(a) and 2.196).
As indicated in the preceding paragraph, the USPTO will consider actions
or fees due on Friday, March 2, 2018, to be timely if taken or paid on the
next business day on which the USPTO was open, that is, Monday, March 5,
2018. An actual filing date of Friday, March 2, 2018, was also available
under existing procedures. Specifically, 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 Friday, March 2, 2018, 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" of Friday, March 2, 2018, on the mailing label).
In addition, 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 Friday, March 2,
2018, 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 website. Trademark filings properly
filed through TEAS, TEASi, and ESSTA will receive the date indicated in the
e-mail confirmation sent at the time of a successful filing. See the
Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (TMEP) § 301 and Trademark Trial
and Appeal Board Manual of Procedure (TBMP) § 110.09 regarding electronic
filing.
March 30, 2018 ANDREI IANCU
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and
Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
[1449 OG 269]
Top of Notices (18) December 25, 2018