Top of Notices   (74)  December 29, 2020

US PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE

Print This Notice 1481 CNOG  143

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, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113)

(74)  Office Actions, Notices of Allowance, and Other Office Notices
    Previously Mailed to Areas of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands,
                  and Florida Affected by Hurricane Irma

   The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a
notice announcing that the USPTO considers the effects of Hurricane Irma in
Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina
that began on September 6, 2017, to be an "extraordinary situation" within
the meaning of 37 CFR 1.183. That notice provides additional relief for
affected applicants and reexamination parties in certain situations. See
https://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/operational-status/customers-
affected-hurricane-harvey. The instant notice supplements that notice.

   For patent applications and reexamination proceedings pending in the
USPTO as of September 6, 2017, having a correspondence address in the areas
of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Florida affected by Hurricane
Irma that the USPTO has identified as being in affected areas based on the
zip code of the correspondence address, in which a reply 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 reply has not yet expired, the USPTO is withdrawing the Office
communication, and re-issuing the Office communication with a new time
period for reply. See MPEP § 710.06 (Situations When Reply Period Is Reset
or Restarted). The Office communication must have been outstanding on
September 6, 2017. Note that the USPTO will not restart any time period for
reply once the statutory or non-statutory time period has expired.

   The United States Postal Service (USPS) has indicated that there is a
service disruption in the areas of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands,
and Florida affected by Hurricane Irma. Therefore, the USPTO is withdrawing
the previous Office communication in its image file wrapper (IFW) of the
application or reexamination proceeding, for applications or reexamination
proceedings having a correspondence address in the following USPS zip codes
in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Florida: 006XX, 007XX, 008XX,
009XX, 330XX, 331XX, 332XX, 333XX, 334XX, 336XX, 337XX, 339XX, 341XX, and
342XX. This Official Gazette notice is the notice required by 35 U.S.C. 133
and 37 CFR 1.33.

   Applicants and reexamination parties may view the notice restarting the
period for reply and the Office communication in their application or
reexamination proceeding via the USPTO's Patent Application Information
Retrieval (PAIR) system, either Private PAIR (for those with access) or
Public PAIR (for published applications and reexamination proceedings).

   Inquiries concerning this notice may be directed to a legal advisor in
the Office of Patent Legal Administration at (571) 272-7704, or by e-mail
at PatentPractice@uspto.gov.

October 17, 2017                                               JOSEPH MATAL
                                 Performing the Functions and Duties of the
                  Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and
                  Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office

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