Top of Notices   (75)  December 29, 2020

US PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE

Print This Notice 1481 CNOG  144

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)

(75)   Office Actions, Notices of Allowance, and Other Office Notices
         Previously Mailed to Areas of Texas and Louisiana Affected
                        by Hurricane Harvey

   The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a
notice announcing that the USPTO considers the effects of Hurricane Harvey
in Texas and Louisiana that began on August 25, 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 August 25, 2017, having a correspondence address in the areas
of Texas and Louisiana affected by Hurricane Harvey 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
August 25, 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 Texas and Louisiana affected by
Hurricane Harvey. 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 Texas
and Louisiana: 706XX, 770XX, 772XX, 773XX, 774XX, 775XX, 776XX, 777XX,
778XX, 779XX, 782XX, 783XX, 784XX, and 785XX. 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 10, 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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