2223 Withdrawal of Attorney or Agent
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For a practitioner to withdraw from a patent and/or a reexamination proceeding, the Office no longer requires that there be at least 30 days remaining in any running period for response between the approval of a request to withdraw from representation and the expiration date of any running period for response.
Instead, the Office requires the practitioner(s) to certify that he, she or they have:
- given reasonable notice to the client, prior to the expiration of the response period, that the practitioner(s) intends to withdraw from employment;
- delivered to the client or a duly authorized representative of the client all papers and property (including funds) to which the client is entitled; and
- notified the client of any responses that may be due and the time frame within which the client must respond.
- “Reasonable notice” would allow a reasonable amount of time for the client to seek the services of another practitioner prior to the expiration of any applicable response period.
2224 Correspondence
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A request for ex parte reexamination may not be sent by facsimile transmission.
After the filing of the request for ex parte reexamination, any letters sent to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office relating to the resulting ex parte reexamination proceeding should identify the proceeding by the number of the patent undergoing reexamination, the reexamination request control number assigned, the art unit, and the name of the examiner.
The certificate of mailing and transmission procedures may be used to file any paper in an ex parte reexamination proceeding, except for a request for reexamination and a corrected/replacement request for reexamination.
- This includes the filing of a patent owner’s statement, and a requester’s reply.
Communications from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to the patent owner will be directed to the correspondence address for the patent being reexamined.
Amendments and other papers filed on behalf of patent owners must be signed by the patent owners, or the registered attorney or agent of record in the patent file, or any registered attorney or agent acting in a representative capacity.
2225 Untimely Paper Filed Prior to Order
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