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Coming Soon: E-Mail with Direct Link to Issued Trademark Office Actions and Appeal Briefs to Replace E-Mailed Office Actions/Appeal Briefs (09May2007)

Posted by Kristen Cichocki at May 11, 2007 11:59 AM

Coming Soon: E-Mail with Direct Link to Issued Trademark Office Actions and Appeal Briefs to Replace E-Mailed Office Actions/Appeal Briefs (09May2007)

On May 26, 2007 , the USPTO will begin the transition to a new method of notification of applicants who have authorized e-mail communication with the USPTO of each issued Trademark Office action or Examining Attorney's Appeal Brief by an e-mail message containing a direct link to the Office action or Appeal Brief in Trademark Document Retrieval (TDR) ( http://portal.uspto.gov/external/portal/tow ). The USPTO will not send a separate e-mail with the Office action or Appeal Brief attached. Implementation will begin with a small number of USPTO attorneys using the new e-mail communication method for Office actions and Examining Attorney's Appeal Briefs. Full implementation with all USPTO attorneys using the new e-mail communication is expected in June 2007.

This new approach should benefit both applicants and the USPTO. For example, discontinuing the sending of an e-mail with the Office action/Appeal Brief attached will eliminate problems stemming from very large e-mails, when, for example, the Office action includes voluminous evidence. Currently, such situations require dividing the Office action and its evidentiary attachments into multiple e-mails to ensure delivery, which, in turn, necessitates opening different e-mails and files. TDR will provide direct access to the complete Office action/Appeal Brief and all attachments, either for direct viewing or downloading. Also, TDR gives easy access to all other information in the application file. TDR is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

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