Attachment 18 - DCB 2020-04.docx

D a t a C a p t u r e B u l l e t i n

Number 2020-4 February 28, 2020

SEQUENCE LISTING

POINT OF CONTACT

The information in this bulletin will be included in the 2021 revisions of DATA ENTRY MANUAL FOR UTILITY PATENTS and

DATA PREPARATION MANUAL FOR PATENT APPLICATION

(PRE-GRANT) PUBLICATIONS.

***This bulletin is effective immediately.***

See DATA ENTRY MANUAL FOR UTILITY PATENTS, Section VI. SPECIFICATION, 34. Sequence Listing, Pre-Capture Verification.

The information under when PaDaCap contractor needs USPTO assistance with Sequence Listing is superseded by what is shown below.

when PaDaCap contractor needs USPTO assistance with Sequence Listing. If there is a question about the allowed application’s Sequence Listing, the PaDaCap contractor will send a printer RUSH to the examiner only in the following limited circumstances:

1. During the processing of that allowed application, USPTO personnel instruct the PaDaCap contractor to send a printer RUSH.

2. The allowed application is very clearly a Sequence Listing case, but there is no Sequence Listing in the application.

3. The allowed application is very clearly a Sequence Listing case, but the most recently filed CRF has code CRFD (Computer Readable Form Defective) in IFW.

For all other questions pertaining to the Sequence Listing in an allowed application, the PaDaCap contractor will contact the SequenceHelpDesk@uspto.gov.

The goal is to prevent examiners from having to deal with Sequence Listing problems when such problems may be resolvable by the Sequence Help Desk. In some instances—see circumstance 1 above—the Sequence Help Desk may instruct the PaDaCap contractor to send a RUSH to the examiner.

“For all other questions” above includes the question of whether the Sequence Listing requirement needs to be met in, for example, an application (abstract, specification, claims, drawings) that contains SEQ ID numbers but no Sequence Listing, or an application that contains a small number of nucleotide symbols or amino acid symbols but no Sequence Listing. In such an application it is not the task of the PaDaCap contractor—for example, by counting the number of nucleotide or amino acid symbols—to make the decision as to whether a Sequence Listing is required. Such a decision should be made by the Sequence Help Desk via e-mail as described above, and if instructed by the Sequence Help Desk to do so, the PaDaCap contractor will then send a printer RUSH so that the examiner and the applicant can resolve the problem.

Section VI. SPECIFICATION, 34. Sequence Listing, Exception Processing When Sequence Listing is One Gigabyte or More.

The processing step with the heading ODM’s notification of OPIM and Production Services Branch that application has been allowed

· ODM’s notification of OPIM and Production Services Branch that application has been allowed

With respect to an application for which OPIM is storing a 1GB-or-larger CRF, whenever such application is allowed, the Office of Data Management (as of this writing, charles.hall@uspto.gov) will notify OPIM (as of this writing, scott.priebe@uspto.gov, june.clayburn@uspto.gov, roane.noel@uspto.gov, PatentSupplementalContent@uspto.gov) and Production Services Branch (as of this writing, pola.jones@uspto.gov and DMB_Group@uspto.gov).

Section VIII. APPENDICES, Appendix N: EFS-Web and SCORE (Grant and Pre-Grant),

3. SCORE Exports to PaDaCap Contractor, Sequence Listing CRF.

The PGPub and Grant information is superseded by what is shown below.

PGPub and Grant. The PaDaCap contractor’s data source for a Sequence Listing will, as of this writing, continue to be the computer readable form (CRF) provided by STIC Systems Branch. PaDaCap contractor “on demand” requests will be directed to the Sequence Help Desk. (If a Sequence Listing is exported from SCORE, the PaDaCap contractor will not use it as a data source.) NOTE: Rule 1.821(e) says that the applicant must file a Sequence Listing CRF in ASCII text format, and Rule 1.821(c) says that the applicant must file an identical “paper or compact disc copy” of the Sequence Listing. Any such paper copy will be shown under IFW document code SEQLIST, and any such compact disc copy will be indicated by an Artifact Sheet under IFW doc code ARTIFACT. However, when the Sequence Listing CRF was filed via EFS-Web, there is no requirement for a “paper or compact disc copy.”

See DATA PREPARATION MANUAL FOR PATENT APPLICATION (PRE-GRANT) PUBLICATIONS, Section V. SPECIFICATION AND CLAIMS, Exception Processing When Sequence Listing is One Gigabyte or More.

The processing step with the heading ODM’s notification of OPIM and Production Services Branch that application is entering Pre-Grant publication processing

· ODM’s notification of OPIM and Production Services Branch that application is entering Pre-Grant publication processing

With respect to an application for which OPIM is storing a 1GB-or-larger CRF, whenever such application is exported to the PaDaCap contractor for Patent Application (Pre-Grant) Publication processing, the Office of Data Management (as of this writing, charles.hall@uspto.gov) will notify OPIM (as of this writing, scott.priebe@uspto.gov, june.clayburn@uspto.gov, roane.noel@uspto.gov, PatentSupplementalContent@uspto.gov) and Production Services Branch (as of this writing, pola.jones@uspto.gov and DMB_Group@uspto.gov).

DCB No. 2020-4 Office of Data Management Page 1 of 5