1485 Handling of Request for Certificates of Correction [R-01.2024]

A request for a certificate of correction should be addressed to:

Commissioner for Patents
Office of Data Management Attention: Certificates of Correction Branch
P.O. Box 1450
Alexandria, VA 22313-1450

A request for a certificate of correction filed via the USPTO patent electronic filing system should use the document description: Request for Certificate of Correction.

Requests for certificates of correction will be forwarded to the Certificates of Correction Branch of the Office of Data Management, where they will be listed in a permanent record book.

If the patent is involved in an interference or a trial before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, a certificate of correction under 37 CFR 1.323 or 37 CFR 1.324 will not be issued unless a corresponding motion under 37 CFR 41.121(a)(2), 41.121(a)(3), 42.20 or 42.22 has been granted by the administrative patent judge. See MPEP §§ 1481 and 1481.02. If the patent is involved in a contested case under 37 CFR part 42, subpart D, a certificate of correction under 37 CFR 1.324 will not be issued unless a corresponding motion under 37 CFR 42.22 has been granted by the administrative patent judge. Otherwise, determination as to whether an error has been made, the responsibility for the error, if any, and whether the error is of such a nature as to justify the issuance of a certificate of correction will be made by the Certificates of Correction Branch. If a report is necessary in making such determination, the case will be forwarded to the appropriate group with a request that the report be furnished. If no certificate of correction is to issue, the patentee making the request is so notified and the request, report, if any, and copy of the communication to the patentee are entered into the file history by the Certificates of Correction Branch. If a certificate of correction is to issue, it will be prepared and forwarded to the patentee by the Office of Data Management. In that case, the request, the report, if any, and a copy of the letter transmitting the certificate of correction will be entered into the file history.

Applicants, or their attorneys or agents, are urged to submit the text of the correction on a special Certificate of Correction form, PTO/SB/44 (also referred to as Form PTO-1050), which can serve as the camera copy for use in direct offset printing of the certificate of correction. In addition to the Certificate of Correction form, the request must include a signed request, which should identify support in the application for any Office errors in the patent. If the request is not signed, it will not be accepted by the Office.

Where only a part of a request can be approved, or where the Office discovers and includes additional corrections, the patentee is notified of the changes on the Notification of Approval-in-part form PTOL-404. The certificate is issued approximately 6 weeks thereafter.

Form PTO/SB/44 should be used exclusively regardless of the length or complexity of the subject matter. Intricate chemical formulas or page of specification or drawings may be reproduced and mounted on a blank copy of PTO/SB/44. Failure to use the form has frequently delayed issuance because the text must be retyped by the Office onto a PTO/SB/44.

The exact page and line number where the errors occur in the application file should be identified on the request. However, on form PTO/SB/44, only the column and line number in the printed patent should be used.

The patent grant should be retained by the patentee. The Office does not attach the certificate of correction to patentee’s copy of the patent. The patent grant will be returned to the patentee if submitted.

Below is a sample form illustrating a variety of corrections and the suggested manner of setting out the format. Particular attention is directed to:

• (A) Identification of the exact point of error by reference to column and line number of the printed patent for changes in the specification or to claim number and line where a claim is involved.
• (B) Conservation of space on the form by typing single space, beginning two lines down from the printed message.
• (C) Starting the correction to each separate column as a sentence, and using semicolons to separate corrections within the same column, where possible.
• (D) Leaving a two-inch space blank at bottom of the last sheet for the signature of the attesting officer.
• (E) Using quotation marks to enclose the exact subject matter to be deleted or corrected; using double hyphens (-- --) to enclose subject matter to be added, except for formulas.
• (F) Where a formula is involved, setting out only that portion thereof which is to be corrected or, if necessary, pasting a photocopy onto form PTO/SB/44.

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION

Patent No.: 99,999,999

Application No.: 99/999,999

Issue Date: May 1, 2002

Inventor(s): Eli Y. Rosenthal

It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent is hereby corrected as shown below:

In the drawings, Sheet 3, Fig. 3, the reference numeral 225 should be applied to the plate element attached to the support member 207.

Column 2, line 68 and column 3, lines 3, 8 and 13, for the claim reference numeral '2', each occurrence, should read -1-.

Column 7, lines 45 to 49, the left-hand formula should appear as follows:

-R₃ -CHF

Column 8, Formula XVII, that portion of the formula reading

-CHClCH-

should read --CHFCH₂ --; line 5,

chlorine

should be changed to --fluorine--.

Column 10, line 29, cancel the text beginning with "12. A sensor device" to and ending "active strips." in column 11, line 10, and insert the following claim:

12. A control circuit of the character set forth in claim 4 and for an automobile having a convertible top, and including; means for moving the top between a raised and lowered retracted position; and control means responsive to a sensor relay for energizing the top moving means for moving said top from a retracted position to a raised position.

I. ELECTRONIC PUBLICATION OF CERTIFICATES OF CORRECTION WITH LATER LISTING IN THE OFFICIAL GAZETTE

As of January 30, 2024, all certificates of correction are issued electronically. No paper certificates of correction will be reissued in electronic form. For all certificates of correction issued prior to January 30, 2024, the paper certificate will still be the official certificate of correction provided for by statute.

A listing of all certificates of correction for U.S. patent documents is available on the USPTO website at www.uspto.gov/ CertificatesOfCorrection (e.g., as a downloadable zipped file). The electronic image of a certificate of correction can be accessed in both the public and private views of Patent Center and on the patent database at www.uspto.gov/PatentPublicSearch. Certificates of correction are also subsequently listed in the Official Gazette (and in the Official Gazette Notices posted at www.uspto.gov/OfficialGazette). The listing of certificates of correction in the Official Gazette will include the certificate’s date of issuance.

On the date on which a certificate of correction is electronically issued: (A) the certificate of correction will be entered into the file history and will be available in both the public and private views of Patent Center; (B) a notice will be sent to the patent owner to indicate that a certificate of correction has issued; and (C) an image of the certificate of correction will be added to the image of the patent on the patent database at www.uspto.gov/PatentPublicSearch. The USPTO will not mail a paper copy of the certificate of correction.

The date on which the USPTO makes the certificate of correction available to the public (e.g., by adding the certificate of correction to the file history after signature) will be regarded as the date of issuance of the certificate of correction, not the date of the certificate of correction appearing in the Official Gazette. Certificates of correction published in the above-described manner will provide the public with prompt notice and access, and this is consistent with the legislative intent behind the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999. See 35 U.S.C. 10(a) (authorizing the USPTO to publish in electronic form).

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