[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 169 (Thursday, August 30, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44264-44265]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-18897]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
United States Patent and Trademark Office
[Docket No.: PTO-P-2018-0054]
Filing Patent Applications Electronically During Designated
Significant Outages of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
Electronic Business Systems
AGENCY: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Commerce.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
encourages applicants to file their patent applications via its
electronic filing system (EFS-Web). The USPTO experiences occasional
unplanned electronic business system outages, including unplanned
system outages that preclude patent applicants and patentees from
filing patent documents and fees via the electronic filing system for a
significant period of time. This notice prescribes a procedure for
filing patent applications by alternative electronic means during a
significant unplanned electronic business system outage, as designated
by the Director of the USPTO. An application filed by the alternative
electronic means prescribed in this notice during a designated
significant unplanned electronic business system outage will be
considered to have been filed by the USPTO's electronic filing system,
and thus will not incur the fee required by section 10(h) of the Leahy-
Smith America Invents Act for a patent application not filed by the
USPTO's electronic filing system.
DATES:
Applicability date: The alternative electronic filing procedures
prescribed in this notice apply to patent applications filed from
August 15, 2018 through and including August 23, 2018.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eugenia A. Jones, Senior Legal
Advisor, Office of Patent Legal Administration, at 571-272-7727, or
Erin M. Harriman, Senior Legal Advisor, Office of Patent Legal
Administration, at 571-272-7747.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The USPTO encourages applicants to file
their patent applications via its electronic filing system (EFS-Web)
and collects a fee as required by section 10(h) of the Leahy-Smith
America Invents act for patent applications not filed by electronic
means as prescribed by the Director. Information concerning electronic
filing via EFS-Web is available from the EFS-Web landing page on the
USPTO's internet website (https://www.uspto.gov/patents-application-process/applying-online/about-efs-web) and is discussed in section
502.05 of the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP).
The USPTO periodically takes various electronic business systems
off line (during non-business hours) to perform routine maintenance.
The USPTO, however, also experiences occasional unplanned electronic
business system outages. While the USPTO is typically able to restore
its electronic business systems with sufficient time remaining in a day
to permit patent applicants and patentees to file patent documents and
fees via the electronic filing system on that day, the USPTO also
experiences significant unplanned electronic business system outages
that preclude patent applicants and patentees from filing patent
documents and fees via the electronic filing system for a significant
period of time. The USPTO experienced such a significant unplanned
electronic business systems outage beginning on August 15, 2018. This
notice prescribes a procedure for filing patent applications by
electronic means during a designated significant unplanned electronic
business system outage.
The alternative electronic filing means prescribed in this notice
is available only when there is a significant unplanned electronic
business system outage that precludes patent applicants and patentees
from filing patent documents and fees via the electronic filing system
for a significant period of time, as designated by the Director of the
USPTO (a ``designated significant unplanned electronic business system
outage''). The unplanned electronic business systems outage beginning
August 15, 2018 is designated as a significant unplanned electronic
business system outage, and the alternative electronic filing means
prescribed in this notice is available for patent applications filed
from August 15, 2018 through and including August 23, 2018. The USPTO
will post a notice on its internet website in the event of a future
designated significant unplanned electronic business system outage, and
indicate the dates during which the alternative electronic filing means
prescribed in this notice are available due to such designated
significant unplanned electronic business system outage.
37 CFR 1.16(t) and 1.445(a)(1)(ii) implement section 10(h) of the
Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, which requires an additional fee for
each application for an original (i.e., nonreissue) patent, except for
a design, plant, or provisional application, that is
[[Page 44265]]
not filed by electronic means as prescribed by the Director of the
USPTO. An application filed by the alternative electronic filing means
prescribed by this notice during a designated significant unplanned
electronic business system outage will be treated as an application
filed by electronic means for purposes of section 10(h) of the Leahy-
Smith America Invents Act (and by the USPTO's electronic filing system
for purposes of 37 CFR 1.16(t) and 1.445(a)(1)(ii)). Thus, the non-
electronic filing fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.16(t) and 1.445(a)(1)(ii)
is not required for an application filed by the alternative electronic
filing means prescribed by this notice during a designated significant
unplanned electronic business system outage. The application will also
be treated as being filed by the USPTO's electronic filing system for
purposes of calculation of the application size fee set forth in 37 CFR
1.52(f)(2) and the reduced basic filing fee for small entities who file
in compliance with the USPTO's electronic filing system (37 CFR
1.16(a)). The application, however, will not be treated as being filed
by the USPTO's electronic filing system for purposes of the electronic
filing discount in the international filing fee (PCT Rule 15 and 37 CFR
1.445(b)).\1\
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\1\ The USPTO has no authority to treat an international
application filed by the alternative electronic filing means
prescribed by this notice as having been filed in the electronic
format prescribed by the Administrative Instructions under the PCT
for the electronic filing discount in the international filing fee
or to waive the international filing fee.
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The alternative electronic filing means during designated
significant unplanned electronic business system outages is as follows:
The applicant must file the patent application during a designated
significant unplanned electronic business system outage by an
alternative filing method permitted by 37 CFR 1.6, such as by the
Priority Mail Express[supreg] service of the U.S. Postal Service under
37 CFR 1.10 or hand delivery \2\ to the USPTO. See MPEP Sec. 502.05;
see also Legal Framework for Electronic Filing System--Web (EFS-Web),
74 FR 55200, 55204 (Oct. 27, 2009).\3\ Applicants are reminded that
unless an application is filed by the Priority Mail Express[supreg]
service of the U.S. Postal Service in accordance with 37 CFR 1.10, the
filing date of the application will be the date on which the
application is received at the USPTO headquarters in Alexandria,
Virginia. See 37 CFR 1.6. In addition, a copy of the application must
be filed via EFS-Web (or Patent Center \4\) no later than: (1) One
month from the date a filing receipt \5\ is first issued for the
application, and be accompanied by a request for refund, if the non-
electronic filing fee has been paid; or (2) the expiration of the
period for reply to a notice requiring payment of the non-electronic
filing fee (e.g., a notice to file missing parts under 37 CFR 1.53(f))
if the non-electronic filing fee has not been paid.
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\2\ New patent applications hand carried to the USPTO must be
delivered to the Customer Service Window in the Randolph Building,
401 Dulany Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22314 (MPEP section 501).
\3\ Applicants are reminded that applications filed under 37 CFR
1.53 (except a design continued prosecution application (CPA) under
37 CFR 1.53(d)), PCT international applications, and international
design applications cannot be submitted by facsimile transmission.
See 37 CFR 1.6(d).
\4\ Patent Center is a new patent electronic filing and
management system that is in development, and which will replace
EFS-Web and the Patent Application Information and Retrieval (PAIR)
system. Further information concerning Patent Center is available on
the USPTO's internet website at https://www.uspto.gov/patent/initiatives/about-patent-center.
\5\ The term ``filing receipt'' as used in this notice also
includes a Notification of the International Application Number and
of the International Filing Date (PCT/RO/105) in a PCT application.
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The copy of the application filed via EFS-Web (or Patent Center)
must be accompanied by a statement that it is a true copy of the
original application as filed by the alternative filing method during
the designated significant unplanned electronic business system outage.
The copy of the application also must be filed via EFS-Web (or Patent
Center) as a follow-on paper in the application, and not as a new
application. If the copy of the application is filed via EFS-Web (or
Patent Center) as a new application, the copy will be treated as a new
application, and the application filed by an alternative filing method
will not be treated as an application filed by the prescribed
alternative electronic filing means. The copy of the application should
not be filed until applicant has received either a filing receipt or
other USPTO notice identifying the application number assigned to the
application.
Dated: August 27, 2018.
Andrei Iancu,
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of
the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2018-18897 Filed 8-29-18; 8:45 am]
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