Top of Notices Top of Notices   (21)  December 26, 2023 US PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE Print This Notice 1517 CNOG  56 

Mail Issues, Office Closures, Postal Emergencies, etc. Referenced Items (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127)
(21)     Closing of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
                      on Thursday, December 24, 2020

   Due to the closing of federal government offices in the Washington, D.C.
metropolitan area, including the United States Patent and Trademark Office
(USPTO), on Thursday, December 24, the USPTO will consider Thursday,
December 24 to be a "Federal holiday within the District of Columbia" under
35 U.S.C. § 21 and 37 C.F.R. §§ 1.6, 1.7, 1.9, 2.2(d), 2.195, and 2.196.
Since Friday, December 25 is also a holiday, any action or fee due on
Thursday, December 24 or Friday, December 25 will be deemed as timely for
the purposes of 15 U.S.C. §§ 1051(d), 1058, 1059, 1062(b), 1063, 1064,
1126(d), 1141(g), and 1141k, or 35 U.S.C. §§ 119, 120, 133, and 151, if the
action is taken or the fee is paid no later than 11:59 pm ET on Monday,
December 28, which is the next business day that the USPTO is open
(37 C.F.R. §§ 1.7(a) and 2.196).

   As an initial matter, it must be noted that, in general, Trademark
customers may not submit any trademark filings through the United States
Postal Service (USPS). With limited exceptions, all trademark
correspondence must be submitted through the Trademark Electronic
Application System (TEAS). 37 C.F.R. § 2.23(a).

   As indicated in the opening paragraph, the USPTO will consider actions
or fees due on Thursday, December 24 or Friday, December 25 to be timely if
taken or paid on Monday, December 28, which is the next business day that
the USPTO is open. An actual filing date of Thursday, December 24 or
Friday, December 25 is also available under existing procedures.
Specifically, 37 C.F.R. §§ 1.6(a)(2), 2.195(b), and 2.198 provide that any
correspondence properly deposited in the Priority Mail Express® service of
the United States Postal Service (USPS) in accordance with 37 C.F.R.
§§ 1.10 or 2.198 will be deemed filed on the date of deposit (as shown by
the "date accepted" on the mailing label) with the USPS. Thus, any
correspondence properly deposited in the Priority Mail Express® service of
the USPS on Thursday, December 24 or Friday, December 25, in accordance
with 37 C.F.R. §§ 1.10 or 2.198, will be deemed filed on its respective
date of deposit in the Priority Mail Express® service of the USPS (as shown
by a "date accepted" of Thursday, December 24 or Friday, December 25 on the
mailing label). See the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP) § 513
and the Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (TMEP) § 305.03. For
correspondence being mailed or transmitted with a certificate of mailing or
transmission in accordance with 37 C.F.R. §§ 1.8 and 2.197, see MPEP § 512
and TMEP § 305.02, respectively.

   In addition, 37 C.F.R. §§ 1.6(a)(4) and 2.195(a) provide that patent-
and trademark-related correspondence transmitted electronically to the
USPTO will be deemed filed in the USPTO on the date the USPTO received the
electronic transmission. Thus, any patent- or trademark-related
correspondence transmitted electronically to the USPTO on Thursday,
December 24 or Friday, December 25 will be deemed filed in the USPTO on the
date the USPTO received the electronic transmission. Patent correspondence
successfully received by the USPTO through the USPTO's patent electronic
filing systems (EFS-Web or Patent Center) and filed in compliance with the
Legal Framework for Patent Electronic System will receive the date
indicated on the Acknowledgement Receipt. See MPEP § 502.05 and the USPTO
website. Trademark filings properly filed through TEAS, TEASi, and ESTTA
will receive the date indicated in the email confirmation sent at the time
of a successful filing. See TMEP § 301 and Trademark Trial and Appeal
Board Manual of Procedure § 110.09 regarding electronic filing.

December 18, 2020                                              ANDREI IANCU
                  Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and
                  Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office

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