Mailing:
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Certificate of Transmission:
A Certificate of Transmission must accompany a facsimile and is used as proof for establishing when the fax was received by the PTO.
- The PTO will date stamp the correspondence when they receive it (if the facsimile arrives on a Sat, Sun or Fed holiday, it will be stamped the next working day).
- Faxes cannot be used for anything that will obtain an application filing date (in addition to many other items).
- An individual may state the date on which the paper will be transmitted by fax, in most cases this will be used as the date it arrived to the PTO.
Certificate of Mailing:
The date is based on the date the correspondence is sent, never on the date it is received.
It must be addressed correctly with enough postage for first class mail, in addition, it must include a signed (by assignee or registered practitioner) dated certificate of mailing with each piece of correspondence listed.
Only certain types of correspondence may be sent via a Certificate of mailing.
“Priority Mail Express”:
Rules governing “Priority Mail Express”:
- It may be used for any type of correspondence.
- It will be considered as filed on the date of the deposit, whatever day of the week that may be.
- The correspondence must state “Priority Mail Express Post Office to Addressee”:
- The service must be provided by U.S. Postal Service (U.S.P.S.)
- The “date in” must be entered by the U.S.P.S. and the mailing label must be completed by the U.S.P.S.
Hand Delivery:
Hand delivery is only available during Office hours, you should receive a receipt back for the papers as proof of their delivery.
