500

OCR transcription for search; preserved printed pages are authoritative

# Chapter 500 Receipt and Handling of Mail and Papers

501
Papers Received by Mail Branch

502
Depositing Papers

503
Serial Number and Filing Receipt

504
Register of Applications

505
"Office Date" Stamp

506
Completeness of Original Application

506.01
Return of Incomplete Application

507
Drafting Branch

508
Distribution

508.01
Papers Sent to Wrong Division

## 501 Papers Received by Mail Branch

All patent applications are received first by
the Mail Branch (Register, Correspondence and
Mail Branch), where they are inspected to in-
sure essential sufficiency as to form. The Mail
Branch also receives amendments and other cor-
respondence pertaining to pending applications
and distributes them to the various examining
divisions.

## 502 Depositing Papers

The application having been prepared and
executed, it can be sent to the Patent Office by
mail or express, or may be delivered by hand.

Amendments and other papers reach the Office
by mail, or in Washington they may be de-
posited in the Mail Branch or in a box which is
kept at the Patent Office for this purpose. See
Rule 6, reproduced below.

Rule 6 Receipt of letters and papers. (a) Letters
and other papers received in the Patent Office are
stamped with the date of receipt.

(b) Mail placed in the Patent Office pouch up to
midnight on weekdays, excepting holidays, 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 placed 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 14th and E Street entrance of the
Patent Office on week-days except Saturdays, and at the
main entrance of the Commerce Building on Satur-
days, excepting holidays, and all papers deposited
therein are considered as received in the Patent Office
on the day of deposit.

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(d) No papers are received in the Patent Office on
Sundays or holidays within the District of Columbia.
[Old Rule 12]

## 503 Serial Number and Filing Receipt

Each application which meets the formal re-
quirements as to completeness is immediately
given a serial number and a filing date. Since
the serial numbers are limited to six digits, a
new series is started from time to time. It is
therefore important, when referring to applica-
tion files, to identify them by their filing dates
as well as by serial number.

The Application Branch mails a receipt to the
applicant for each application filed, giving the
serial number, filing date, and division to which
assigned.

In the Application Branch the application pa-
pers, with the exception of the drawing, are
placed in a jacket and the data listed in 717.02
are placed thereon.

## 504 Register of Applications

The Chief of the Application Branch assigns
the application to the examining division to
which he thinks it belongs. A list of all applica-
tions arranged by serial numbers as well as an
alphabetically arranged card index of the appli-
cants is kept by the Application Branch and the
identification of the division to which each ap-
plication is sent is made part of this record.

## 505 "Office Date" Stamp of Receipt

In whatever manner an application or any
part thereof, or an amendment, letter, or other
paper is received by the Office, the date of its
receipt is at once stamped thereon. This stamp
is applied by the Mail Branch, except that in the
case of prints or sketches accepted for purposes
of examination, and drawings received with
amendments, the stamp is applied by the Appli-
cation Branch. The stamp employed for this
purpose is referred to as the "Office Date" stamp.
When stamped on the papers of an application,
if the application is complete, this date is the
same as the "filing date" of the application, and
establishes for the applicant the date of con-
structive reduction to practice of his invention
as defined in subsequently allowed claims.

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## 506 Determination of Completeness of Original Application

If the application papers are too informal to
warrant their being forwarded to the proper
examining division, they are not given a serial
number, but the case is held in the Application
Branch as an incomplete application and the
applicant is informed of the shortcomings of
the papers.

Such fatal informality may consist of the
omission of any one of the component parts of
an application except the petition (see Chapter
600) ; or it may consist of failure of notary to
sign the jurat, execution of oath before a notary
who has power of attorney in the case, failure to
present any claim, insufficient fee, etc.

If any two of the component parts of the ap-
plication are properly signed by the applicant,
his failure to sign the other parts will not of
itself defeat acceptance as a complete applica-
tion, provided that a notarized oath is included
among the application papers. Under Rule 58
an application if executed on the "Approved
Single Signature Form" requires only a single
signature.

## 506.01 Return of Incomplete Applica- tion

If a request is made, the parts of the incom-
plete application are returned to the applicant;
otherwise, the papers are retained in the Appli-
cation Branch for at least six months, and then
sent to the abandoned files. They may be used
by applicant as part of a complete application
if the missing parts are later supplied. See Rule
53.

Whatever fee has been paid is returned to the
applicant at the end of twelve months, if no
steps have meanwhile been taken looking to com-
pletion of the application.

## 507 Drafting Branch

The drawing is sent to the Drafting Branch to
be inspected for formal compliance with the
rules. If the drawing is satisfactory, or if it

contains defects which are not so serious as to
warrant holding the application to be incom-
plete, the Draftsman enters the appropriate
notation (608.02 (a) and 608.02 (b)).

If the drawings are so informal that they
may not serve for examination purposes or for
the purpose of receiving a filing date, the
Draftsman writes in lead pencil on the margin
of the drawing "Inf." (Informal). The draw-
ings are then returned to the Application
Branch, which writes the applicant that the
application is incomplete and will not be given
a date and serial number until a proper draw-
ing is filed.

## 508 Distribution

The Application Branch has permanent prints
made of the drawings of all complete applica-
tions and secures the prints in the file wrappers.
The drawings and files are then assembled and
forwarded to the proper examining divisions.

In the exceptional case where an application
without a drawing is given a filing date and the
Examiner subsequently requires a drawing, or
where for any other reason a new sheet or draw-
ing is added by amendment, a print of such
drawing is made and forwarded to the division
to be placed in the file as an official paper.

On receipt of the application by the Mail
Branch, the fee is forwarded by that Branch to
the Finance Officer, after entry on the applica-
tion papers and in a record book; while the
petition, specification, oath, and power of attor-
ney, if there be one, are sent to the Application
Branch.

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 Divisions

Drawings, amendments and other papers that are
delivered to divisions to which they do not belong
must be promptly returned to the Application
Branch, which will immediately refer to the applica-
tion books, and assign the papers to the proper divi-
sion. (Order 1552.)