and must comply with various requirements. The application must be made by the inventor with the papers signed and the oath sworn to by him (unless he is dead or insane). Legal representatives of deceased inventors and of those under legal incapacity may make application for patent upon compliance with the requirements and on the same terms and conditions applicable to the inventor. The application is forwarded to the appropriate Examining Group where, when its turn is reached, it is examined. The application is studied and a search is made through all pertinent prior United States patents, and also through patents of foreign countries and publications to find out if the invention is new. A decision is reached, in the light of the study and the results of the search, as to the patentability of the invention or the claims presented and also as to various formal matters. The decision is communicated to the applicant. If adverse, the applicant may ask for reconsideration with or without amending. The application is then reexamined and reconsidered and the result again communicated to the applicant. Further reconsideration of the application may be given.

(b) If the final decision of the examiner is adverse to the granting of a patent, or any of the claims presented, the applicant may appeal to the Board of Appeals and is entitled to an oral hearing. From the decision of the Board of Appeals an appeal may be taken to the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals or a civil action may be brought against the Commissioner in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Matters of form and procedure may be reviewed on petition to the Commissioner.

(c) The various responses and actions which an applicant may take are governed by time limits fixed by or under the statute and rules and an application is abandoned by failure to reply or take appropriate action within the specified time. An abandoned application may be revived as a pending application by the Commissioner if the delay was unavoidable.

(d) If there are two or more applications for a patent for the same invention, an interference proceeding to determine who is the prior inventor and entitled to the patent is instituted. An interference may also be declared between a pending application and an unexpired patent under certain conditions. The question of priority of invention is determined by a board of three Examiners of Interference and their decision is reviewable by the courts, either by an appeal to the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals or by a civil action in a United States District Court.

(e) When it has been decided that a patent is to be granted, the applicant is sent a notice of allowance and if the issue fee, due within three months, is paid, the patent is granted in due course. If the issue fee is not paid, the patent is not granted, but the fee may be accepted

late upon petition to the Commissioner accompanied by a petition fee and a verified statement provided the delay does not exceed three months.

(f) The prosecution of an application for patent must be conducted in writing and the personal attendance of applicants is not required and is unnecessary. Applicants may arrange for interviews with examiners at such times within office hours as the examiners may designate.

(g) An applicant for a patent may prosecute his own case, but he is entitled to be, and usually is, represented by an attorney or agent. No person may represent applicants before the Patent Office unless he is registered in the Patent Office as an attorney or agent, or authorized and recognized to prosecute a particular case.

RULES OF PRACTICE

The following rules governing the practice and procedure in the Patent Office with respect to applications for patent and related matters, and the recognition of attorneys and agents, were initially adopted and promulgated, effective March 1, 1949, after publication of proposed rules and a public hearing, and consideration of the material and arguments submitted, and have been amended from time to time since that date.

These rules and the various amendments were published in the Federal Register. In the Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations these rules are part 1 of Title 37, Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights, and the individual rules, there called sections, are numbered with the part number and a decimal point prefixed to the numbers to the rules here used; thus section 1.33 in the Federal Register and Code of Federal Regulations is here termed rule 33. The complete arrangement of all the Patent Office rules in the Code of Federal Regulations is as follows:

Title 37-Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights

Chapter 1-Patent Office, Department of Commerce
Subchapter A-General

Part 1-Rules of Practice in Patent Cases

Part 2-Rules of Practice in Trademark Cases

Part 3-Forms for Patent Cases

Part 4-Forms for Trademark Cases

Part 5-Secrecy of Certain Inventions and Licenses to File Applications in Foreign Countries

Part 6-Classification of Goods and Services Under the Trademark Act

Part 7-Register of Government Interests in Patents

Subchapter B-Government Inventions Jurisdiction

100 Administration of a uniform patent policy with respect to the domestic rights in inventions made by Government employees. 101 Acquisition and protection of foreign rights in inventions. 102 Licensing of foreign patents acquired by the Government.

GENERAL INFORMATION AND CORRESPONDENCE

1. All communications to be addressed to Commissioner of Patents. All letters and other communications intended for the Patent Office must be addressed to "Commissioner of Patents," Washington, D.C., 20231. When appropriate, a letter may be marked for the attention of a particular officer or individual.

NOTE: Rules 1 to 26 are applicable to trademark cases as well as to patent cases except for provisions specifically directed to patents.

2. Business to be transacted in writing. All business with the Patent Office should be transacted in writing. The personal attendance of applicants or their attorneys or agents at the Patent Office is unnecessary. The action of the Patent 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.

3. Business to be conducted with decorum and courtesy. Applicants and their attorneys or agents are required to conduct their business with the Patent Office with decorum and courtesy. Papers presented in violation of this requirement will be submitted to the Commissioner and will be returned by his direct order. Complaints against examiners and other employees must be made in communications separate from other papers.

4. Nature of correspondence. (a) Correspondence with the Patent 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 and prosecution of applications or other proceedings (patent rules 31 to 352 and trademark rules 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 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.

5. Identification of application, patent or registration. (a) When a letter concerns an application for patent, it should state the

name of the applicant, the title of the invention, the serial number of the application, the date of filing the same, and, if known, the group art unit and name of the examiner to which it has been assigned (see rule 55).

(b) When the letter concerns a patent, it should state the number and date of issue of the patent, the name of the patentee, and the title of the invention.

(c) A letter relating to a trademark application should identify it as such and by the name of the applicant and the serial number and filing date of the application. A letter relating to a registered trademark should identify it by the name of the registrant and by the number and date of the certificate.

6. Receipt of letters and papers. (a) Letters and other papers received in the Patent Office are stamped with the date of receipt. No papers are received in the Patent Office on Saturdays, Sundays or holidays, within the District of Columbia.

(b) Mail placed in the Patent Office pouch up to midnight on weekdays, excepting Saturdays and holidays, by the post office at Washington, D.C., serving the Patent Office, is considered as having been received in the Patent Office on the day it was so placed in the pouch.

(c) In addition to being mailed or delivered by hand during office hours, letters and other papers may be deposited up to midnight in a box provided at the guard's desk at the lobby of building 3 of the Patent Office at Crystal Plaza, Arlington, Virginia, and at the main entrance of the Department of Commerce building, Washington, D.C., on weekdays except Saturdays and holidays, and all papers deposited therein are considered as received in the Patent Office on the day of deposit.

7. Times for taking action; expiration on Saturday, Sunday or holiday. Whenever periods of time are specified in these rules in days, calendar days are intended. When the day, or the last day, fixed by statute or by or under these rules for taking any action or paying any fee in the Patent Office falls on Saturday, Sunday, or on a holiday, within the District of Columbia, the action may be taken, or the fee paid, on the next succeeding day which is not a Saturday, Sunday, or a holiday. See rule 304 for time for appeal or for commencing civil action.

35 U.S.C. 21. Day for taking action falling on Saturday, Sunday, or holiday. When the day, or the last day, for taking any action or paying any fee in the United States Patent Office falls on Saturday, Sunday, or a holiday, within the District of Columbia, the action may be taken, or the fee paid, on the next succeeding secular or business day.

NOTE: As of January 1, 1971, the holidays in the District of Columbia are: New Year's Day, January 1; Washington's Birthday, the third Monday in February; Memorial Day, the last Monday in May; Independence Day, July 4; Labor Day, the first Monday in September; Columbus Day, the second Monday in