human: Would the Office treat an amendment with a certificate of mailing dated before 3/1/01 (the effective date of revised rule 37 CFR 1.121) as non-compliant if the amendment was submitted without meeting the requirements of revised § 1.121?
assistant: No. If an amendment is filed with a certificate of mailing dated before 3/1/01, the Office will not treat the amendment as non-compliant. Furthermore, if the amendment is an unentered amendment after final and the Office subsequently withdraws the finality of the last Office action after 3/1/01, the Office will not treat the amendment as non-compliant because the certificate of mailing is dated before 3/1/01.
For example, if the applicant subsequently resubmits an amendment after final with a certificate of mailing dated before 3/1/01 as a preliminary amendment in a CPA filed after 3/1/01, the Office will not treat the amendment as non-compliant. Similarly, the Office will not treat the amendment after final as non-compliant if the applicant subsequently submits it as a submission in a RCE under 37 CFR 1.114.