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<p class="MsoNormal">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. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b>From:</b> Patentcenter <patentcenter-bounces@oppedahl-lists.com>
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Alan Taboada via Patentcenter<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, November 28, 2023 1:09 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> patentcenter@oppedahl-lists.com<br>
<b>Cc:</b> Alan Taboada <ataboada@mtiplaw.com><br>
<b>Subject:</b> [Patentcenter] Patent Center Fun with Numbers - Image Date, Mailing Date; Notification Date; Filename Date<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">All –<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">I believe this was discussed previously, but not sure to what extent.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Apparently, this office action has:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<ol style="margin-top:0in" start="1" type="1">
<li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0in;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">A “Date Mailed” of 17 November 2023;<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0in;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">A “Notification Date” of 11/22/2023;<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0in;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">An “Image Date” in the Correspondence section of Patent Center of 11/20/2023; and<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0in;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">The filename of the document when downloaded includes a date stamp of 11-21-2023<o:p></o:p></span></li></ol>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">So that same document apparently has four different dates associated with it (November 17, 20, 21, and 22).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">A quick internet search yielded this Federal Register citation from April 5, 2023 relating to the Patent Center Electronic Office Action Program (<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/04/05/2023-07087/patent-center-electronic-office-action-program">https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/04/05/2023-07087/patent-center-electronic-office-action-program</a>).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">The notice states:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<h3 style="text-indent:.5in">4. When does the time period for reply start?<o:p></o:p></h3>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in" id="p-26">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
<a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/link/uscode/35/132" target="_blank">35 U.S.C. 132(a)</a>, the mailroom/notification date is the date of the notice under
<a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/link/uscode/35/133" target="_blank">35 U.S.C. 133</a>. 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 ( <em><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">e.g.,</span></em><a href="https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-37/section-1.71#p-1.71(g)(2)" target="_blank">37 CFR 1.71(g)(2)</a>,
<a href="https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-37/section-1.97#p-1.97(b)" target="_blank">
1.97(b)</a>, <a href="https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-37/section-1.701" target="_blank">
1.701</a>–1.705). <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Perhaps there are good reasons to have all of these different dates from the USPTO’s perspective.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Do I care when the Examiner supposedly completed work and stamped a “Mailing Date” on the action?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Do I care when the USPTO scans the image?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Do I care about the date in the filename of the document saved in Patent Center?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">I think the answer to all of those are: No, I do not care in the least.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">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.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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