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 Abandon-
ment

## 501 Papers Received by Correspond- ence and Mail Branch [R-22]

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 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 [R-22]

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 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 previous practice of hand delivery of
officially date-stamped papers has been discon-
tinued. A duplicate copy of such papers may
be hand delivered. See §§ 104, 710.02(e) and
713.01.

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.

The Office often experiences difficulty in
matching incoming papers with the application
file to which they pertain. This applies espe-
cially to amendments, powers of attorney,
\- changes of address, status letters, and requests
for extension of time.

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.

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
most recent Office Action).

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

4\. Title of Invention.

It is further requested that at least 60 days be
permitted to elapse before filing any additional
papers relating to a newly filed application. If
this is done, the original application papers may
be completely processed and more easily located
when the additional papers are received.

Rute 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 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.

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503

## 503 Serial Namber and Filing Receipt [R-22]

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. It is therefore
important, when referring to application files,
to identify 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 the data listed in
$ 717.02 are placed thereon.

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.

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
No., filing date, appeal number, 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

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 Branch. A print or sketch so stamped
which is later mounted on Bristol board by the
Application Branch has the same date stamped
on the back of the Bristol board. 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-22]

If the application papers are too informal
to warrant their being forwarded to the proper
Examining Group, 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.

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, even
though there appear to have been omitted there-
from either :

(a) one or more figures of the drawing

(b) one or more pages of the specification
(c) one or more claims.

The apparent omission is noted on the filing
receipt mailed to applicant so that he may take
any action in the matter which he deems ap-
propriate or necessary.

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

If a request is made, the parts of an incom-
plete application are returned by the Applica-
tion Branch. Otherwise, the papers (and fee)
are retained for at least six months and then
returned. They may be used by applicant as
part of a complete application if the missing
parts are later supplied. See Rule 53.

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## RECEIPT AND HANDLING OF MAIL AND PAPERS

507 Drafting Branch [R-22]

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.

If the drawings are so informal that they
may not serve for examination purposes or for
the purpose of receiving a filing date, the
drawings are 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 [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
Group to be placed in the file as an official
paper.

As to the procedure to be followed when a
model is filed, see $$ 608.08 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

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.

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