| 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) |
(56) Relief Available to Patent and Trademark Applicants,
Patentees and Trademark Owners Affected by the
Severe Earthquakes in Northern Italy
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) considers the
effects of the severe earthquakes in Northern Italy that occurred in May
2012, 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 May 29, 2012, having one or more inventors, an assignee, or a
correspondence address in areas of Northern Italy affected by the
earthquakes, 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 May 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.
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 earthquakes in May 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 the severe earthquakes in May 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. 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 earthquakes in May 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 May 29, 2012, and the delay in paying the fee
was due to the effects of the severe earthquakes in May 2012.
The USPTO advises patentees who need to file a petition to accept a
delayed maintenance fee payment due to the effects of the earthquakes in
May 2012, where the maintenance fee payment was required to have been paid
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after May 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 the severe
earthquakes in May 2012, and as a request for sua sponte waiver of the
surcharge under 37 CFR 1.20(i). The petition must be filed by May 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 the severe earthquakes 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 May
29, 2012, and prior to June 30, 2012, without an executed oath or
declaration or payment of the basic filing fee, search fee, and/or
examination fee due to the severe earthquakes in May 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. 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 earthquakes in May 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 Northern Italy affected by the severe earthquakes
in May 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 indicate that the
need for the reissuance of the Office communication is due to the effects
of the severe earthquakes in May 2012. 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 Northern Italy affected by the earthquakes as of
May 29, 2012, that were abandoned or cancelled due to inability to timely
respond to a trademark-related Office communication due to the effects of
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the severe earthquakes in May 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 the
earthquakes.
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.
July 30, 2012 DAVID J. KAPPOS
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and
Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
[1381 OG 213]