[Patentcenter] Patent Center Fun with Numbers - Image Date, Mailing Date; Notification Date; Filename Date

[Andrea R. Jacobson]

We have always relied on the DATE MAILED or NOTIFICATION DATE on the PTOL-90A and PTOL-85.  I do not rely on the "Mail room date" in Patent Center as that seems to open to change. I also don't rely on the date we get the email notification (or that it was sent) as that system is unreliable and can result in us getting the document after the PTO says it was mailed - just last week I get eGrant notifications on 11/22 that had a "Notification Date" of 11/21, and I didn't even get any today, but they have a "Notification Date" of 11/28 when I pull them up out of Documents & Transactions.   I also don't rely on the image date at all because it needs to be imaged well in advance of mailing, so that makes sense it is before the mailing date.

From: Patentcenter <patentcenter-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com> On Behalf Of Alan Taboada via Patentcenter
Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2023 1:09 PM
To: patentcenter at oppedahl-lists.com
Cc: Alan Taboada <ataboada at mtiplaw.com>
Subject: [Patentcenter] Patent Center Fun with Numbers - Image Date, Mailing Date; Notification Date; Filename Date

All -

I believe this was discussed previously, but not sure to what extent.
I am looking at an office action from the USPTO right now and I see the following dates in Patent Center all associated with this single office action.
Apparently, this office action has:

  1.  A "Date Mailed" of  17 November 2023;
  2.  A "Notification Date" of 11/22/2023;
  3.  An "Image Date" in the Correspondence section of Patent Center of 11/20/2023; and
  4.  The filename of the document when downloaded includes a date stamp of 11-21-2023

So that same document apparently has four different dates associated with it (November 17, 20, 21, and 22).

The USPTO Correspondence Notification emailed to us indicating this office action arrived on 11/22 and includes a "Mailroom Date" field of 11/22 - the same as the "Notification Date" on the action.

I believe that the shortened statutory period should run from the date we were notified of the action, and not the phony "Date Mailed" that was 5 days earlier.
However, the Action explicitly states that the shortened statutory period runs from the MAILING DATE (the earliest listed date), rather than the date we were actually notified of the Action.

A quick internet search yielded this Federal Register citation from April 5, 2023 relating to the Patent Center Electronic Office Action Program (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/04/05/2023-07087/patent-center-electronic-office-action-program).

The notice states:
4. When does the time period for reply start?
Generally, any time period for reply set forth in the Office communication will commence on the mailroom/notification date indicated on the form PTOL-90 accompanying the Office communication. The mailroom/notification date is treated like the mailing date of a paper communication. More specifically, for Office actions under 35 U.S.C. 132(a)<https://www.govinfo.gov/link/uscode/35/132>, the mailroom/notification date is the date of the notice under 35 U.S.C. 133<https://www.govinfo.gov/link/uscode/35/133>. See Electronic Office Action, 1343 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office at 46. The mailroom/notification date will also be considered the date of mailing of the correspondence for all other purposes ( e.g.,37 CFR 1.71(g)(2)<https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-37/section-1.71#p-1.71(g)(2)>, 1.97(b)<https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-37/section-1.97#p-1.97(b)>, 1.701<https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-37/section-1.701>-1.705).

So I think it is correct that the shortened statutory period runs from the Notification Date, but still feel nervous about potential problems if this response is submitted beyond a date calculated from the earlier Mailing Date.

Perhaps there are good reasons to have all of these different dates from the USPTO's perspective.
However, from a practitioner's perspective, I would think that all of these dates are irrelevant except for the Notification Date - which is the only date that matters.
Do I care when the Examiner supposedly completed work and stamped a "Mailing Date" on the action?
Do I care when the USPTO scans the image?
Do I care about the date in the filename of the document saved in Patent Center?
I think the answer to all of those are: No, I do not care in the least.

That being the case, it would be helpful for all of those other dates to be hidden from my view to prevent confusion or worse, docketing errors.


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