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
508.02 Papers Received After Patenting or Abandon-
ment

## 501 Papers Received by Mail Branch

All communications are received by the In-
coming-Mail Section of the Correspondence
and Mail Branch, which opens and distributes
all official mail.

## 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 Of-
fice by mail, or in Washington they may be
deposited in the Mail Branch or in a box
which is kept at the Patent Office for this
purpose.

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 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 weekdays except Saturdays and holi-
days, and all papers deposited therein are considered
as received in the Patent Office on the day of deposit.

## 503 Serial Number and Filing Receipt

It is requested that the Division number
be typed on amendments and other com-
munications relating to pending applications
in order to expedite the handling of mail and
to conserve manpower. The number of the
Division should be placed on the right-hand
side, opposite the Serial Number or name of
applicant. In view of the vast amount of
mail, continued careful attention to these de-
tails will do much toward avoiding delay in
handling of mail. (Basis: Notice of April 24,
1956.)

In the Application Branch each application
which meets the formal requirements 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. The current
series was started in 1960. It is therefore
important, when referring to application files,
to identify them by their filing dates as well
as by serial number.

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 division to
which assigned.

In the Application Branch the application
papers, 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 Application Branch assigns the applica-
tion to the examining division 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 division to which
each application 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

<!-- PageBreak -->

<!-- PageHeader="MANUAL OF PATENT EXAMINING PROCEDURE" -->

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 mounted on Bris-
tol Board by the Application Branch, the
stamp is applied by the Application Branch.
The stamp is referred to as the "Office Date"
stamp and, if the application is complete (See
Rule 55), establishes the "filing date."

## 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
attorney or agent, if any, otherwise the appli-
cant, is informed of the shortcomings of the
papers.

Such informality may consist of the omis-
sion of any one of the component parts of an
application; see Rule 51. Whether or not a
drawing is necessary is decided in accordance
with the principles outlined in 608.02.

### 506.01 Return of Incomplete Appli- cation

If a request is made, the parts of the incom-
plete application are returned to the applicant;
otherwise, the papers are retained in the Ap-
plication 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 sup-
plied. 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 completion 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 in-

complete, the Draftsman enters the appropri-
ate 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
applications and secures the prints in the file
wrappers. The drawings and files are then
assembled and forwarded to the proper exam-
ining 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
drawing 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.

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

### 508.01 Papers Sent to Wrong Division

Drawings, amendments and other papers
that are delivered to divisions to which they
do not belong must be promptly forwarded
to the assigned division. The Application
Branch may be called to determine the correct
assignment.

### 508.02 Papers Received After Patent- ing or Abandonment

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 Branch for han-
dling with the status of the application indi-
cated thereon.