(3) Office of Solicitor correspondence.

(i) Correspondence relating to pending litigation required by court rule or order to be served on the Solicitor shall be hand-delivered to the Office of the Solicitor or shall be mailed to: Office of the Solicitor, P.O. Box 15667, Arlington, Virginia 22215; or such other address as may be designated in writing in the litigation. See §§1.302(c) and 2.145(b)(3) for filing a notice of appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

(ii) Correspondence relating to disciplinary proceedings pending before an Administrative Law Judge or the Commissioner shall be mailed to: Office of the Solicitor, P.O. Box 16116, Arlington, Virginia 22215.

(iii) All other correspondence to the Office of the Solicitor shall be addressed to: Box 8, Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, Washington, D.C. 20231.

(iv) Correspondence improperly addressed to a Post Office Box specified in subsection (a)(3)(i) and (ii) of this section will not be filed elsewhere in the Patent and Trademark Office, and may be returned.

(b) Letters and other communications relating to international applications during the international stage and prior to the assignment of a national serial number should be additionally marked "Box PCT."

(c) Requests for reexamination should be additionally marked "Box Reexam."

(d) Payments of maintenance fees in patents and other communications relating thereto should be additionally marked "Box M. Fee."

(e) Communications relating to interferences and applications or patents involved in an interference should be additionally marked "BOX INTERFERENCE."

(f) All applications for extension of patent term and any communications relating thereto intended for the Patent and Trademark Office should be additionally

marked "Box Patent Ext." When appropriate, the communication should also be marked to the attention of a particular individual, as where a decision has been rendered.

(g) [Reserved]

(i) The filing of all provisional applications and any communications relating thereto should be additionally marked "Box Provisional Patent Application."

(Pub. L. 94-131, 89 Stat. 685)

[46 FR 29181, May 29, 1981, as amended at 49 FR 34724, Aug. 31, 1984; 49 FR 48451, Dec. 12, 1984; 52 FR 9394, Mar. 24, 1987; 53 FR 16413, May 9, 1988; 54 FR 37588, Sept. 11, 1989; 60 FR 20220, Apr. 25, 1995; 61 FR 56439, Nov. 1, 1996]

Sec. 1.2 Business to be transacted in writing.

All business with the Patent and Trademark Office should be transacted in writing. The personal attendance of applicants or their attorneys or agents at the Patent and Trademark Office is unnecessary. The action of the Patent and Trademark Office will be based exclusively on the written record in the Office. No attention will be paid to any alleged oral promise, stipulation, or understanding in relation to which there is disagreement or doubt.

Sec. 1.3 Business to be conducted with decorum and courtesy.

Applicants and their attorneys or agents are required to conduct their business with the Patent and Trademark Office with decorum and courtesy. Papers presented in violation of this requirement will be submitted to the Commissioner and will be returned by the Commissioner's direct order. Complaints against

examiners and other employees must be made in correspondence separate from other papers.

Sec. 1.4 Nature of correspondence and signature requirements.

(a) Correspondence with the Patent and Trademark Office comprises:

(1) Correspondence relating to services and facilities of the Office, such as general inquiries, requests for publications supplied by the Office, orders for printed copies of patents or trademark registrations, orders for copies of records, transmission of assignments for recording, and the like, and

(2) Correspondence in and relating to a particular application or other proceeding in the Office. See particularly the rules relating to the filing, processing, or other proceedings of national applications in subpart B, §§1.31 to 1.378; of international applications in subpart C, §§1.401 to 1.499; of reexamination of patents in subpart D, §§1.501 to 1.570; of interferences in subpart E, §§1.601 to 1.690; of extension of patent term in subpart F, §§1.710 to 1.785; and of trademark applications §§2.11 to 2.189.

(b) Since each application file should be complete in itself, a separate copy of every paper to be filed in an application should be furnished for each application to which the paper pertains, even though the contents of the papers filed in two or more applications may be identical. (c) Since different matters may be considered by different branches or sections of the Patent and Trademark Office, each distinct subject, inquiry or order should be contained in a separate letter to avoid confusion and delay in answering letters dealing with different

subjects.

(d) Each piece of correspondence, except as provided in paragraphs (e) and (f) of this section, filed in a patent or trademark application, reexamination proceeding, patent or trademark interference proceeding, patent file or trademark registration file, trademark opposition proceeding, trademark cancellation proceeding, or trademark concurrent use proceeding, which requires a person's signature, must either:

(1) Be an original, that is, have an original signature personally signed in permanent ink by that person; or

(2) Be a copy, such as a photocopy or facsimile transmission (§1.6(d)), of an original. In the event that a copy of the original is filed, the original should be retained as evidence of authenticity. If a question of authenticity arises, the Patent and Trademark Office may require submission of the original.

(e) Correspondence requiring a person's signature and relating to registration to practice before the Patent and Trademark Office in patent cases, enrollment and disciplinary investigations, or disciplinary proceedings must be submitted with an original signature personally signed in permanent ink by that person.

(f) When a document that is required by statute to be certified must be filed, a copy, including a photocopy or facsimile transmission, of the certification is not acceptable.

(Pub. L. 94-131, 89 Stat. 685; 35 U.S.C. 6, Pub. L. 97247)

[24 FR 10332, Dec. 22, 1959, as amended at 48 FR 2707, Jan. 20, 1982; 49 FR 48451, Dec. 12, 1984; 53 FR 47807, Nov. 28, 1988; 58 FR 54501, Oct. 22, 1993]

r

Sec. 1.5 Identification of application, patent or registration.

(a) No correspondence relating to an application should be filed prior to receipt of the application number from the Patent and Trademark Office. When a letter directed to the Patent and Trademark Office concerns a previously filed application for a patent, it must identify on the top page in a conspicuous location, the application number (consisting of the series code and the serial number; e.g., 07/123,456), or the serial number and filing date assigned to that application by the Patent and Trademark Office, or the international application number of the international application. Any correspondence not containing such identification will be returned to the sender where a return address is available. The returned correspondence will be accompanied by a cover letter which will indicate to the sender that if the returned correspondence is resubmitted to the Patent and Trademark Office within two weeks of the mailing date on the cover letter, the original date of receipt of the correspondence will be considered by the Patent and Trademark Office as the date of receipt of the correspondence. Applicants may use either the Certificate of Mailing or Transmission procedure under §1.8 or the Express Mail procedure under §1.10 for resubmissions of returned correspondence if they desire to have the benefit of the date of deposit with the United States Postal Service. If the returned correspondence is not resubmitted within the two-week period, the date of receipt of the resubmission will be considered to be the date of receipt of the correspondence. The two-week period to resubmit the returned correspondence will not be extended. In addition to the application number, all letters directed to the Patent and Trademark Office concerning applications for patents should also state the