37 CFR 1.6 — Receipt of correspondence

37 CFR 1.6 — Receipt of correspondence.

(1) The Patent and Trademark Office is not open for the filing of correspondence on any day that is a Saturday, Sunday, or Federal holiday within the District of Columbia. Except for correspondence transmitted by facsimile under paragraph (a)(3) of this section, or filed electronically under paragraph (a)(4) of this section, no correspondence is received in the Office on Saturdays, Sundays, or Federal holidays within the District of Columbia.

(2) Correspondence filed in accordance with § 1.10 will be stamped with the date of deposit as Priority Mail Express ® with the United States Postal Service.

(3) Correspondence transmitted by facsimile to the Patent and Trademark Office will be stamped with the date on which the complete transmission is received in the Patent and Trademark Office unless that date is a Saturday, Sunday, or Federal holiday within the District of Columbia, in which case the date stamped will be the next succeeding day which is not a Saturday, Sunday, or Federal holiday within the District of Columbia.

(4) Correspondence may be submitted using the USPTO patent electronic filing system only in accordance with the USPTO patent electronic filing system requirements. Correspondence officially submitted to the Office by way of the USPTO patent electronic filing system will be accorded a receipt date, which is the date in Eastern Time when the correspondence is received in the Office, regardless of whether that date is a Saturday, Sunday, or Federal holiday within the District of Columbia.

(b) [Reserved]

(c) Correspondence delivered by hand. In addition to being mailed, correspondence may be delivered by hand during hours the Office is open to receive correspondence.

(1) [Reserved]

(2) Certified documents as specified in § 1.4(f) ;

(3) Correspondence that cannot receive the benefit of the certificate of mailing or transmission as specified in § 1.8(a)(2)(i)(A) through (D), (F), (I), and (K) and § 1.8(a)(2)(iii)(A) , except that a continued prosecution application under § 1.53(d) may be transmitted to the Office by facsimile;

(4) Color drawings submitted under §§ 1.81 , 1.83 through 1.85 , 1.152 , 1.165 , 1.173 , 1.437 , or 1.1026 ;

(5) A request for reexamination under § 1.510 or § 1.913 , or a request for supplemental examination under § 1.610 ;

(6) Correspondence to be filed in an application subject to a secrecy order under §§ 5.1 through 5.5 of this chapter and directly related to the secrecy order content of the application;

(7) In contested cases and trials before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, except as the Board may expressly authorize.

(e) [Reserved]

(i) Informs the Office of the previous transmission of the application under § 1.53(d) promptly after becoming aware that the Office has no evidence of receipt of the application under § 1.53(d) ;

(ii) Supplies an additional copy of the previously transmitted application under § 1.53(d) ; and

(iii) Includes a statement which attests on a personal knowledge basis or to the satisfaction of the Director to the previous transmission of the application under § 1.53(d) and is accompanied by a copy of the sending unit’s report confirming transmission of the application under § 1.53(d) or evidence that came into being after the complete transmission and within one business day of the complete transmission of the application under § 1.53(d) .

(2) The Office may require additional evidence to determine if the application under § 1.53(d) was transmitted to and received in the Office on the date in question.

(i) Informs the Office of the previous submission of the correspondence promptly after becoming aware that the Office has no evidence of receipt of the correspondence under § 1.495 ;

(ii) Supplies an additional copy of the previously submitted correspondence;

(iii) Includes a statement that attests on a personal knowledge basis, or to the satisfaction of the Director, that the correspondence was previously officially submitted; and

(iv) Supplies a copy of an acknowledgment receipt generated by the USPTO patent electronic filing system, or equivalent evidence, confirming the submission to support the statement of paragraph (g)(1)(iii) of this section.

(2) The Office may require additional evidence to determine if the national stage correspondence was submitted to the Office on the date in question.

[48 FR 2696, Jan. 20, 1983, effective Feb. 27, 1983; 48 FR 4285, Jan. 31, 1983; para. (a), 49 FR 552, Jan. 4, 1984, effective Apr. 1, 1984; revised, 58 FR 54494, Oct. 22, 1993, effective Nov. 22, 1993; para. (a) amended, 61 FR 56439, Nov. 1, 1996, effective Dec. 2, 1996; paras. (d)(3), (d)(6) & (e) amended, para. (f) added, 62 FR 53132, Oct. 10, 1997, effective Dec. 1, 1997; para (a)(1) revised and para. (a)(4) added, 64 FR 48900, Sept. 8, 1999, effective Oct. 30, 1999; para.(d)(9) revised, 65 FR 54604, Sept. 8, 2000, effective Nov. 7, 2000; para. (d)(5) revised, 65 FR 76756, Dec. 7, 2000, effective Feb. 5, 2001; para. (b) removed and reserved and paras. (e), (f) & (f)(1)(iii) revised, 68 FR 14332, Mar. 25, 2003, effective May 1, 2003; paras. (a)(4), (d)(7) and (d)(8) removed and reserved, and paras. (d), introductory text, (d)(3), and (d)(4) revised, 68 FR 48286, Aug. 13, 2003, effective Sept. 12, 2003; para. (d)(9) revised, 69 FR 49959, Aug. 12, 2004, effective Sept. 13, 2004; para. (d)(4) revised and para. (e) removed and reserved, 69 FR 56481, Sept. 21, 2004, effective Sept. 21, 2004; paras. (a)(4) & (g) added, 72 FR 2770, Jan. 23, 2007, effective Jan. 23, 2007; para. (d)(3) revised, 77 FR 42150, July 17, 2012, effective Sept. 16, 2012; ; paras. (d) introductory text and (d)(9) revised, 77 FR 46615, Aug. 6, 2012, effective Sept. 16, 2012; para. (d) revised, 78 FR 62368, Oct. 21, 2013, effective Dec. 18, 2013; paras. (a) and (a)(2) revised, 79 FR 63036, Oct. 22, 2014, effective Oct. 22, 2014; paras. (d)(3)-(4) and (6) revised, 80 FR 17918, Apr. 2, 2015, effective May 13, 2015; para. (d)(1) removed and reserved, 86 FR 35226, July 2, 2021, effective July 2, 2021; paras. (a)(4), (g) and (g)(1)(iv) revised, 87 FR 68900, Nov. 17, 2022, effective Dec. 19, 2022]

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