MPEP § 511 — MPEP § 511
Current through: 2022-07-01

511-Postal Service Interruptions and Emergencies 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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 Chapter 0500 

 Section 511 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 511 Postal Service Interruptions and Emergencies [R-01.2024]

 In the event of a postal interruption or emergency, an
 announcement will be placed on the USPTO website at www.uspto.gov and a notice will be published
 in the Official Gazette, providing instructions about the filing of
 patent applications, and other papers related to patent applications and patents.
 

 
 35 U.S.C. 21 
 Filing date and day for taking action. 

 
 (a) The Director may by rule prescribe that any paper or fee required
 to be filed in the Patent and Trademark Office will be considered filed in the
 Office on the date on which it was deposited with the United States Postal Service
 or would have been deposited with the United States Postal Service but for postal
 service interruptions or emergencies designated by the Director.
 

 
 *****

 

 
 37 CFR 1.10 Filing of correspondence by Priority Mail
 Express ® . 

 *****

 
 (g) Any person who mails correspondence addressed as set out in
 §
 1.1(a) to the Office with sufficient postage utilizing the
 Priority Mail Express ® Post Office to Addressee service
 of the USPS, but has the correspondence returned by the USPS due to an
 interruption or emergency in Priority Mail Express ® 
 service, may petition the Director to consider such correspondence as filed on a
 particular date in the Office, provided that:
 
 (1) The petition is filed promptly after the person becomes
 aware of the return of the correspondence;
 

 (2) The number of the Priority Mail
 Express ® mailing label was placed on the
 paper(s) or fee(s) that constitute the correspondence prior to the original
 mailing by Priority Mail Express ® ;
 

 (3) The petition includes the original correspondence or a copy
 of the original correspondence showing the number of the Priority Mail
 Express ® mailing label thereon and a copy of
 the Priority Mail Express ® mailing label showing
 the “date accepted”; and
 

 (4) The petition includes a statement which establishes, to the
 satisfaction of the Director, the original deposit of the correspondence and
 that the correspondence or copy of the correspondence is the original
 correspondence or a true copy of the correspondence originally deposited
 with the USPS on the requested filing date. The Office may require
 additional evidence to determine if the correspondence was returned by the
 USPS due to an interruption or emergency in Priority Mail
 Express ® service.
 

 
 

 (h) Any person who attempts to mail correspondence addressed as set
 out in §
 1.1(a) to the Office with sufficient postage utilizing the
 Priority Mail Express ® Post Office to Addressee service
 of the USPS, but has the correspondence refused by an employee of the USPS due to
 an interruption or emergency in Priority Mail Express ® 
 service, may petition the Director to consider such correspondence as filed on a
 particular date in the Office, provided that:
 
 (1) The petition is filed promptly after the person becomes
 aware of the refusal of the correspondence;
 

 (2) The number of the Priority Mail
 Express ® mailing label was placed on the
 paper(s) or fee(s) that constitute the correspondence prior to the attempted
 mailing by Priority Mail Express ® ;
 

 (3) The petition includes the original correspondence or a copy
 of the original correspondence showing the number of the Priority Mail
 Express ® mailing label thereon; and
 

 (4) The petition includes a statement by the person who
 originally attempted to deposit the correspondence with the USPS which
 establishes, to the satisfaction of the Director, the original attempt to
 deposit the correspondence and that the correspondence or copy of the
 correspondence is the original correspondence or a true copy of the
 correspondence originally attempted to be deposited with the USPS on the
 requested filing date. The Office may require additional evidence to
 determine if the correspondence was refused by an employee of the USPS due
 to an interruption or emergency in Priority Mail
 Express ® service.
 
 (i) Any person attempting to file correspondence under
 this section that was unable to be deposited with the USPS due to an
 interruption or emergency in Priority Mail
 Express ® service which has been so
 designated by the Director, may petition the Director to consider such
 correspondence as filed on a particular date in the Office, provided
 that:
 

 
 

 (1) The petition is filed in a manner designated by the Director
 promptly after the person becomes aware of the designated interruption or
 emergency in Priority Mail Express ® service;
 

 (2) The petition includes the original correspondence or a copy
 of the original correspondence; and
 

 (3) The petition includes a statement which establishes, to the
 satisfaction of the Director, that the correspondence would have been
 deposited with the USPS but for the designated interruption or emergency in
 Priority Mail Express ® service, and that the
 correspondence or copy of the correspondence is the original correspondence
 or a true copy of the correspondence originally attempted to be deposited
 with the USPS on the requested filing date.
 

 
 

 
 
 I. “PRIORITY MAIL EXPRESS” The addresses that should be used for Priority Mail
 Express ® sent to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office are
 set forth in 37 CFR
 1.1 (see MPEP § 501 ). The Office does not have
 resources for picking up any mail. Therefore mail should NOT be sent using the “Hold for
 Pickup” service option (whereby the mail is retained at the destination postal facility
 for retrieval by the addressee). Mail sent using the “Hold for pickup” service will not
 reach the Office.
 

 See MPEP § 513 for the use of the Priority
 Mail Express ® Mailing procedure of 37 CFR 1.10 .
 

 II. PETITION DUE TO A POSTAL SERVICE INTERRUPTION OR EMERGENCY 37 CFR
 1.10(i) provides a procedure under which applicant may petition
 the Director to have correspondence (papers and fees) which was unable to be deposited
 with the United States Postal Service (USPS) because of an interruption or emergency in
 Priority Mail Express ® service which is so designated by
 the Director considered as having been filed on a particular date in the Office.
 Authority for such a practice is found in 35 U.S.C. 21(a) . In addition, the
 Director has designated certain events as a postal service interruption or emergency by
 rule ( 37 CFR
 1.10(g) and (h) ). 37 CFR 1.10(g) 
 provides a procedure under which applicant may petition the Director to have
 correspondence that was returned by the USPS due to an interruption or emergency in
 Priority Mail Express ® service considered as filed on a
 particular date in the Office. 37 CFR 1.10(h) provides a procedure
 under which applicant may petition the Director to have correspondence that was refused
 by an employee of the USPS due to an interruption or emergency in Priority Mail
 Express ® service considered as filed on a particular date
 in the Office. For more information on filing a petition under 37 CFR 1.10(g) ,
 (h) , or (i) , see MPEP § 513 , especially
 subsections IX-XI.
 

 Applicants are cautioned that the provisions of 35 U.S.C. 21(a) 
 and 37 CFR 1.10(g) to
 (i) only apply to postal interruptions and
 emergencies. The provisions of 35 U.S.C. 21(a) and
 37 CFR
 1.10(g) to (i) do not provide for granting of a filing date to
 correspondence as of the date on which it would have been filed but for other
 exigencies, such as the unavailability of a computer or word processing equipment, or
 the inaccessibility of an office or building other than a USPS facility.
 35 U.S.C.
 21(a) requires, in part, that “any paper or fee required to be
 filed in the Patent and Trademark Office…would have been deposited with the United
 States Postal Service but for postal service interruptions or emergencies designated by
 the Director.” The statute requires that the correspondence was complete and ready to be
 deposited with the USPS on the filing date requested (e.g., complete application papers
 have been prepared and printed) and that the correspondence could not have been
 deposited with the USPS on the requested filing date for the sole reason that the postal
 service was not available due to the interruption or emergency designated by the
 Office.
 

 III. ALTERNATIVES TO FILING CORRESPONDENCE VIA PRIORITY MAIL
 EXPRESS ® The Office strongly recommends that applicants file new
 applications by Priority Mail Express ® in accordance with
 37 CFR
 1.10 (if such applications are not filed via the USPTO patent
 electronic filing system) because such correspondence will be accorded the date of
 deposit in Priority Mail Express ® with the USPS as the filing
 date. See 37 CFR
 1.6(a) and MPEP § 513 . Applications that are not
 filed by Priority Mail Express ® can only be accorded the date
 of receipt in the Office as the filing date (unless there is a postal interruption or
 emergency designated by the Office and applicants are instructed to file their
 applications in a manner other than by Priority Mail
 Express ® ), thus any applicant who files an application by
 first class mail bears the risk of any delay in the delivery of the application to the
 Office, even if the delay is unusually significant due to some unforeseen event. 
 

 In general, applicants should consider filing new patent
 applications (as well as patent-related correspondence) via the USPTO patent electronic
 filing system (Patent Center) whenever permitted. See the Legal Framework for Patent
 Electronic System posted on the USPTO website ( www.uspto.gov/PatentLegalFramework ) for information pertaining to
 the types of patent applications and documents that are permitted to be filed via the
 USPTO patent electronic filing system. See also MPEP § 502.05 . New applications cannot
 be transmitted by facsimile and are not entitled to the benefit of a Certificate of
 Transmission under 37
 CFR 1.8 . A request for a continued prosecution application (CPA)
 filed under 37 CFR
 1.53(d) (available only for design applications) may be
 transmitted to the Office by facsimile ( 37 CFR 1.6(d)(3) ); however, it is
 not entitled to the benefit of a Certificate of Transmission (see 37 CFR
 1.8(a)(2)(i)(A) ). See 37 CFR 1.6(d) and
 MPEP §
 502.01 . New patent applications may also be hand-delivered to
 the Office. See MPEP §
 501 . 
 

 Correspondence in a patent application can be filed via
 the USPS, hand-delivery, or, when permitted, via the USPTO patent electronic filing
 system or facsimile. Applicants should file correspondence with a Certificate of Mailing
 or a Certificate of Transmission under 37 CFR 1.8 when permitted. See
 MPEP §§
 502.01 and 512 . Even if the post office is closed
 due to an emergency, applicants should ordinarily be able to deposit correspondence in a
 mailbox for first class mail. 
 

 [top] 

 

 

 
 

 
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 501-Filing Papers With the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office 

 502-Depositing Correspondence 
 502.01-Correspondence Transmitted by Facsimile 

 502.02-Correspondence Signature Requirements 

 502.03-Communications via Internet Electronic Mail (email) 

 502.04-Duplicate Copies of Correspondence 

 502.05-Correspondence Transmitted by EFS-Web 

 
 

 503-Application Number and Filing Receipt 

 504-Assignment of Application for Examination 

 505-Date of Receipt Stamp 

 506-Completeness of Original Application 
 506.01-[Reserved] 

 506.02-Review of Refusal To Accord Filing Date 

 
 

 507-Drawing Review in the Office of Patent Application Processing 

 508-Distribution 
 508.01-[Reserved] 

 508.02-Papers Received After Patenting or Abandonment 

 508.03-[Reserved] 

 508.04-Unlocatable Patent or Application Files 

 
 

 509-Payment of Fees 
 509.01-Deposit Accounts 

 509.02-Small Entity Status — Definitions 

 509.03-Claiming Small Entity Status 
 509.03(a)-Duty to Investigate Entitlement to Claim Small Entity Status 

 509.03(b)-Change or Correction of Status 

 
 

 509.04-Micro Entity Status — Definitions 
 509.04(a)-Gross Income Basis for Micro Entity Status 

 509.04(b) -Institution of Higher Education Basis for Micro Entity Status 

 509.04(c) -Parties Who Can Sign the Micro Entity Certification 

 509.04(d) -Continued Obligation to Determine Micro Entity Qualification 

 509.04(e) -Notification of Loss of Entitlement to Micro Entity Status 

 509.04(f) -Correcting Errors in Micro Entity Status 

 
 

 
 

 510-U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Business Hours 

 511-Postal Service Interruptions and Emergencies 

 512-Certificate of Mailing or Transmission 

 513-Deposit as Priority Mail Express® with U.S. Postal Service 

 

 

 
 

 
 
 

 
 

 

 
 
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 Last Modified: 
 
 03/09/2026 20:49:43