500

OCR transcription for search; preserved printed pages are authoritative

# Chapter 500 Receipt and Handling of Mail and Papers

## 501 Papers Received by Correspondence and Mail Branch

502 Depositing Papers
503 Serial Number and Filing Receipt

504
Register of Applications

505
"Office Date" Stamp of Receipt

506 Completeness of Original Application
506.01 Return of Incomplete Application
507 Drafting Branch

508 Distribution
508.01 Papers Sent to Wrong Group
508.02 Papers Received After Patenting or Aban-
donment

## 501 Papers Received by Correspond- ence and Mail Branch [R-28]

The official mailing address for all com-
munications sent to the Patent Office remains :
Commissioner of Patents
Washington, D.C. 20231

The physical location of the Office is 2021
Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, Virginia.
This address should not be used on mail sent
to the Patent Office.

All mailed communications are received by
the Incoming-Mail Section of the Correspond-
ence and Mail Branch, which opens and distrib-
utes all official mail.

## 502 Depositing Papers [R-28]

Rule 5. Identification of application. patent or
registration. (a) When a letter concerns an application
for patent, it should state the name of the applicant,
the title of the invention, the serial number of the
application, the date of filing the same, and, if known,
the group art unit and name of the examiner to which
it has been assigned (see rule 55).

(b) When the letter concerns a patent, it should
state the number and date of issue of the patent, the
name of the patentee, and the title of the invention.

(c) A letter relating to a trademark application
should identify it as such and by the name of the ap-
plicant and the serial number and filing date of the
application. A letter relating to a registered trade-
mark should identify it by the name of the registrant
and by the number and date of the certificate.

Applications, amendments and other papers
may be sent to the Patent Office by mail, or they
may be deposited in the Correspondence and
Mail Branch or in a box which is kept in the
lobby of building 3 of the Patent Office for this
purpose.

The Patent Office ZIP Code designation
"20231" should be used when writing the Patent
Office for any matter. In addition, the sender's
own ZIP Code designation should be given.

### HAND DELIVERY OF PAPERS

For purposes of convenience in those cases
where the attorney and the Examiner agree that
a proposed amendment discussed during a per-
sonal interview would place the application in
condition for allowance, the amendment may
be left with the Examiner to become an official
paper in the file without routing through the
mail room, provided no additional fees are re-
quired. Where the case is under final rejection,
if changes in the proposed amendment are nec-
essary and these changes are not practical to be
made by Examiner's amendment, the attorney
or his local representative will be permitted to
hand deliver a corrected amendment to the Ex-
aminer, provided no additional fees are required
and further that the amendment is submitted
to the Examiner by the end of the next working
day following the interview and within the
period for response.

The Examiner who accepts these amendments
must date, initial and write "entry approved"
in the left-hand margin of the first page of the
amendment.

Attorneys may also deliver requests for ex-
tension of time to the Examining Groups.

A duplicate copy of officially date-stamped
papers may be hand delivered. See §§ 104,
710.02(e) and 713.01.

The Office often experiences difficulty in
matching incoming papers with the application
file to which they pertain because insufficient or
erroneous information is given. This applies
especially to amendments, powers of attorney,
changes of address, status letters, requests for
extension of time, and petitions.

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Frequently, there are errors in the serial num-
ber or in the Group Art Unit number, or the
incoming paper uses the old Group Art Unit
number where an application has been trans-
ferred and acted on by a different Examining
Group.

Where the Group Art Unit number is entirely
omitted, the routine operations of the Applica-
tion Branch must be interrupted solely for the
purpose of determining the location of the ap-
plication so that the communication can be
properly routed. Under these circumstances the
efficiency of the Application Branch is impaired
and the incoming paper is delayed in reaching
its proper destination. Where such papers are
not essential to compliance with a statutory
period or time limit for response, they may be
returned for completion to identify the location
of the files.

It would be of great assistance to the Office if
all incoming papers pertaining to a filed appli-
cation carried the following items :

1\. Serial number (checked for accuracy).

2\. Group Art Unit number (copied from
filing receipt or most recent Office Ac-
tion).

3\. Filing date.

4\. Name of the Examiner who prepared the
most recent Office Action.

5\. Title of Invention.

To further reduce the burden on the Applica-
tion Branch and the Examining Groups. it is
also requested that the submission of additional
or supplemental papers on a newly filed appli-
cation be deferred until a filing receipt has been
received. In the same vein, it would be appre-
ciated if the filing of additional papers relating
to an allowed application were deferred until
a notice of allowance (POL-85) was received.

If the above suggestions are adopted the proc-
essing of both new and allowed applications
could proceed more efficiently and promptly
through the Patent Office.

Rule 6. Receipt of letters and papers. (a) Letters
and other papers received in the Patent Office are
stamped with the date of receipt. No papers are
received in the Patent Office on Saturdays, Sundays or
holidays within the District of Columbia.

(b) Mail placed in the Patent Office pouch up to
midnight on weekdays, excepting Saturdays and holi-
days, by the post office at Washington, D.C., serving
the Patent Office, is considered as having been received
in the Patent Office on the day it was so placet in
the pouch.

(c) In addition to being mailed or delivered by
hand during office hours, letters and other papers may
be deposited up to midnight in a box provided at the
guard's desk at the lobby of building 3 of the Patent
Office at Crystal Plaza, Arlington, Virginia and at the

main entrance of the Department of Commerce build-
ing. Washington, D.C., on weekdays except Saturdays
and holidays, and all papers deposited therein are
considered as received in the Patent Office on the day
of deposit.

## 503 Serial Number and Filing Receipt [R-28]

Application Branch now assigns a Serial
Number to each application filed.

It should be recognized that the identification
of an application by Serial Number does not
necessarily signify that the Patent Office has
accepted the application as complete. After the
application has been reviewed for statutory com-
pliance and given an official filing date, the
usual filing receipt will be mailed.

In the Application Branch each application
which meets the formal requirements as to
completeness is given a filing date. It is impor-
tant, when referring to application files, to iden-
tify them by their filing dates as well as by
Serial Numbers.

The Application Branch mails a receipt to
the attorney or agent, if any, otherwise to the
applicant, for each application filed, giving the
serial number. filing date, and group to which
assigned. The filing receipt may contain nota-
tions of apparent omissions. See § 506.

In the Application Branch the application
papers, with the exception of the drawing, are
placed in a file wrapper and certain data placed
thereon.

If early notification of the serial number is
also desired. an additional self-addressed post
card should be submitted. Upon receipt of ap-
plication papers with two return post cards.
Correspondence and Mail Division will stamp
both cards with the receipt date and return one
card to the sender. The second card will be for-
warded to the Application Branch where both
the card and application papers will be stamped
with a serial number and the card returned to
the sender.

The identifying data on the post card in-
tended for evidence that the Patent Office has
received a complete set of application papers
should include applicant's name(s) ; title of the
invention; number of pages of specification.
claims, and sheets of drawing; whether oath or
declaration used; and amount and manner of
paying the fee.

If a receipt of any paper filed in the Patent
Office is desired, it may be obtained by enclosing
with the paper a self-addressed post card iden-
tifying the paper. The Patent Office will stamp
the receipt date on the card and place it in the
out going mail.

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The identifying data on the card should be
so complete as to match the paper with the ap-
plication or other document to which it is to be
associated. For example, the document should
be identified by the applicant's name (s), Serial
Number, filing date, interference number, etc.,
and the paper should be identified by specifying
the type thereof, namely, affidavit, amendment,
appeal, application papers, brief, drawings.
fees, motions, supplemental oath or declaration,
petition, etc.

When papers for more than one document are
filed under a single cover a return addressed post
card should be attached to the paper for each
document for which a receipt is desired.

### 504 Register of Applications [R-22]

The Application Branch assigns the applica-
tion to the examining group to which it ap-
pears to belong. A list of all applications
arranged by serial numbers as well as an
alphabetically arranged card index of the ap-
plicants is kept by the Application Branch
and the identification of the group to which
each application is sent is made part of this
record.

### 505 "Office Date" Stamp of Receipt [R-28]

In whatever manner an application or any
part thereof, or an amendment, letter, or other
paper is transmitted, the date of its receipt is
stamped thereon by the Correspondence and
Mail Division. The stamp is referred to as the
"Office Date" stamp and, if the application is
complete (See Rule 55), establishes the "filing
date."

## 506 Completeness of Original Appli- cation [R-26]

If the application papers are too informal
to be given a filing date, the case is held in the
Application Branch as an incomplete applica-
tion and the applicant, is informed of the short-
comings of the papers. No filing date is granted
until the incompleteness is corrected.

Such informality may consist of the omis-
sion of any one of the component parts of an
application. The component parts of an appli-
cation are;

1\. A declaration or oath, 35 U.S.C. 111.

2\. A specification, 35 U.S.C. 112.

3\. A claim, 35 UL.S.C. 112.

4\. A drawing. 35 U.S.C. 113.

5\. Basic statutory filing fee of $65.

An application is informal if it is typed on
both sides of the paper, or is not permanent,

legible or reproducible. If such informalities
are timely corrected, the application is given
the filing date on which the original informal
papers were filed.

The Application Branch accords a filing date,
as of the date of receipt in the Office, to appli-
cation papers which include all of the necessary
components of a complete application, but are
informal for reasons other than those men-
tioned in the previous paragraph. In such ap-
plications, the Application Branch prepares a
letter indicating the informality and places it
in the file wrapper. When the application is
received in the group, the clerical staff mails
the letter to applicant. Such letters give a two
month period for response. Failure to correct
the informality within the specified time re-
sults in abandonment of the application.

An application too informal to be admitted
for examination may receive as its filing date,
the date it was originally presented only under
the conditions set forth in Rule 183, and only
when a satisfactory showing is made that a
proper application could not be submitted
originally and that applicant will suffer ir-
reparable damage if the filing date sought is
not accorded.

## 506.01 Return of Incomplete Appli- cation [R-24]

If a request is made, the parts of an incom-
plete application are returned by the Applica-
tion Branch. They may be used by applicant as
part of a complete application if the missing
parts are later supplied. See Rule 53.

## 507 Drafting Branch [R-28]

The drawing is sent to the Drafting Branch
to be inspected for formal compliance with the
rules. If the drawing is satisfactory, it is
stamped "approved". If the drawing contains
defects which are not so serious as to warrant
holding the application to be incomplete, the
Draftsman checks the appropriate notation on
the "Notice of Informal Patent Drawing" form
PO-948.

See § 608.02(a) for handling of photoprints
filed in lieu of drawings.

## 508 Distribution [R-22]

The Application Branch has permanent
prints made of the drawings of all complete
applications and secures the prints in the file
wrappers. The drawings and files are then
assembled and forwarded to the proper exam-
ining group.

When a new or substitute drawing is re-
ceived. a print is made and forwarded to the

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group to be placed in the file as an official
paper.

As to the procedure to be followed when a
model is filed, see §$ 608.03 and 608.03 (a).

508.01 Papers Sent to Wrong Group
[R-22]

Drawings, amendments and other papers
that are delivered to groups to which they do
not belong should be promptly returned to the
Application Branch for re-routing. Papers
may be forwarded to the correct destination,
if known.

A terminal disclaimer should not be routed
directly to an examining group. If such a
paper (without the file) is received, it should

be promptly forwarded without the file to the
Issue and Gazette Branch. In some situations
the Issue and Gazette Branch may be holding a
terminal disclaimer. This may be checked by
calling the Chief of the Issue and Gazette
Branch by telephone.

## 508.02 Papers Received After Patent- ing or Abandonment [R-28]

After an application is patented or aban-
doned, any incoming communication which is
not to become part of the record is sent to
the Correspondence and Mail Division for han-
dling with the status of the application indi-
cated thereon.

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