Attachment 18 - DCB 2020-12.docx

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

Number 2020-12 June 5, 2020

MISCELLANEOUS

REVISIONS TO

PRE-GRANT PUBLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

The information in this bulletin will be included in the 2021 revision of

DATA PREPARATION MANUAL FOR PATENT

APPLICATION (PRE-GRANT) PUBLICATIONS.

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

See DATA PREPARATION MANUAL FOR PATENT

APPLICATION (PRE-GRANT) PUBLICATIONS.

Section VI. SAMPLE DOCUMENTS is superseded by what is shown on Pages 3–26 of this bulletin.

Section VI. SAMPLE DOCUMENTS

Sample Kind Contents of Sample

1 P1 front page + specification/claim + drawings

2 P4 front page only

3 P9 front page only

4 A1 front page + drawings + specification/claims

5 A1 front page only

6 A2 front page only

7 A9 front page only

Sample 1: Plant Patent Application Publication front page + specification/claim + drawings

US20060000001 P1

Sample 2: Plant Patent Application Publication — Republication front page only

US 20160000000P4

DCB No. 2020-12 Office of Data Management Page 1 of 31

(76) Inventor: Charles V. Kinbote, Adaville, CA (US)

(21) Appl. No.: 15/000,000

(22) Filed: May 14, 2014

Prior Publication Data

(65) US 2015/0000000 P1 Nov. 21, 2015

Publication Classification

(51) Int. Cl.

X00X 0/00 (2016.01)

(52) U.S. Cl.

USPC……………………..…………...… Plt./00

(57) ABSTRACT

A new variety of spray type or miniature carnation plant distinguished by its profuse production of well formed variegated pink and white flowers borne on strong stems of relatively short length; by its vigorous and upright growth habit and abundant foliage; and by its continuous flowering habit with small, fragrant and long lasting blooms.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] This carnation cultivar originated as a sport of Van Veen (P.P. 0000) and was discovered by me at my nursery in Adaville, Calif. The lovely pink coloring of the flower led me to propagate this sport at my nursery by cuttings and observation of the resulting plants, their growth and blooming habits, and the longevity and fragrance of the blooms has caused me to begin production of the plant for the commercial market. Propagation of this plant is now being done by cuttings at Adaville, Calif., and many generations of this plant have demonstrated that its distinctive characteristics hold true and appear to be firmly fixed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

[0004] My new variety of carnation plant is illustrated by the accompanying full color photographic drawing which shows a spray of fully opened flowers and several stages of buds, the color rendition being as nearly true as it is reasonably possible to obtain by conventional and professional photographic procedures.

DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW PLANT

[0005] The following is a detailed description of my new carnation cultivar based upon observations made of plants grown under conventional greenhouse practices at Adaville, Calif., the color descriptions being according to the R.H.S. Colour Chart published by the Royal Horticultural Society of London, England, in collaboration with the British Colour Council.

THE PLANT

THE BUD

THE FLOWER

Sample 3: Plant Patent Application Publication — Corrected Publication

Sample 4: Patent Application Publication front page + drawings + specification/claims

Sample 5: Patent Application Publication

Sample 6: Patent Application Publication — Republication

Sample 7: Patent Application Publication — Corrected Publication

APPLICATION (PRE-GRANT) PUBLICATIONS,

Section I. OVERVIEW OF DATA PREPARATION, A. Data Sources.

Note D is superseded by what is shown below.

Note D

“drawings or flow diagrams” in the “specification, including the claims”

37 CFR 1.58(a) says, in part, “The specification, including the claims, may contain chemical and mathematical formulae, but shall not contain drawings or flow diagrams. The description portion of the specification may contain tables … . Claims may contain tables … .”

For the purposes of these Note D instructions, “drawings or flow diagrams” are defined as illustrations that the PaDaCap contractor cannot create as chemical, mathematical, or tabular complex work units. However, since shading (grayscale*) is equivalent to color, a chemical/mathematical formula with shading or a table with shading (including embedded nucleotide and/or amino acid sequence data with shading) is not compliant with 37 CFR 1.58(a). That is, chemical/mathematical formulas with shading and tables with shading should not be shown in the specification or claims and instead should be filed as (color) drawings, and therefore they come under these Note D instructions for “drawings or flow diagrams.”

* As stated in 37 CFR 1.52, Language, paper, writing, margins, compact disc specifications: “All papers, other than drawings … must be … white … and … legibly written … in permanent dark ink or its equivalent.” As stated in MPEP 608.01: “Legibility includes ability to be photocopied and scanned so that suitable reprints can be made and paper can be electronically reproduced by use of digital imaging and optical character recognition. This requires a high contrast, with black lines and a white background. Gray lines and/or a gray background sharply reduce photo reproduction quality.”

When one or more “drawings or flow diagrams” as defined above are present in the Pre-Grant abstract, in the Pre-Grant specification, or in a Pre-Grant claim, the PaDaCap contractor will send an e-mail QUERY to the Office of Data Management.

In response to the query, the Office of Data Management will check to see if the application has been docketed to an examiner.

If the application has been docketed to an examiner, the Office of Data Management will instruct the PaDaCap contractor to publish the specification “as is” by capturing the “drawings or flow diagrams” as camera-ready copy (CRC).

· If the application has not yet been docketed to an examiner, the Office of Data Management will see that the application is withdrawn from Pre-Grant processing so that the USPTO may then send to the applicant a notice of non-compliant “drawings or flow diagrams” in the specification.

NOTE: It is acceptable when “Figure” labels are used to identify mathematical expressions or chemical formulas, including complex work units, as long as the specification (including the claims) does not also contain one or more “drawings or flow diagrams.” For example, the following use of “Figure” labels in the specification would not be the subject of a query:

Note B and Note D make a distinction in Pre-Grant Publication processing between unconventional material in the specification (magazine article, textbook chapter, promotional brochure, etc.), which the PaDaCap contractor, per the guidelines that are provided and with no need for a query, either will capture as camera-ready copy (CRC) or will not capture at all versus

“drawings or flow diagrams” in the specification, for which a query is required, in response to which the Office of Data Management either will have the application withdrawn from Pre-Grant processing or will instruct the PaDaCap contractor to capture the drawing or flow diagram as camera-ready copy (CRC).

Section I. OVERVIEW OF DATA PREPARATION, A. Data Sources, Required Data Sources.

The IFW (Image File Wrapper) source information is superseded by what is shown below.

IFW (Image File Wrapper) source. The Image File Wrapper (IFW) export to the PaDaCap contractor for pre-grant publication processing will include documents with the following codes: A.PE, ABST, ADS, APPENDIX, ARTIFACT, CLM, CRFE, LET., M905, OATH, PEFN, PEFR, PGEA.G, PGP DRAWINGS [no longer used], SEQLIST, SPEC, TRNA, REM, and DRW. Documents coded DRW.NONBW will not be included in the IFW export. See the table beginning on the next page showing IFW Doc Code, Description, and Instructions.

Section IV. DRAWINGS, Drawings, Data Source.

The information from “As stated in DATA ENTRY” up to, but not including, the heading Pre-Capture Verification is superseded by what follows.

DRW is the Image File Wrapper (IFW) code for black and white line drawings. Drawings with code DRW are exported from the Image File Wrapper to the PaDaCap contractor for the purposes of pre-grant publication processing.

With respect to drawings that, in whole or in part, contain color/grayscale and/or photographs:

· Color/grayscale/photographic drawings are stored in SCORE (Supplemental Complex Repository for Examiners), and are exported from SCORE to the PaDaCap contractor for purposes of pre-grant publication processing.

· Also, black and white versions of color/grayscale/photographic drawings are shown in the Image File Wrapper under code DRW.NONBW. However, the DRW.NONBW drawings are not included in the Image File Wrapper export to the PaDaCap contractor for the purposes of pre-grant publication processing.

Plant Drawings. For pre-grant processing the USPTO will export the Plant color/photographic drawings from SCORE. The DRW.NONBW versions of the Plant color/photographic drawings will not be exported from IFW. If the Plant application also contains any black and white drawing in addition to the color drawings, the black and white drawing under document code DRW will be exported from IFW. (The Artifact Folder for Plant color/photographic drawings will not be sent to the PaDaCap contractor for pre-grant purposes.) For amended or redacted applications, for voluntary publications, for republications, and for some early publications, the USPTO will export EFS-Web PDF drawings. If no Plant drawings were exported to the PaDacap contractor, the PaDaCap contractor will send a query to the Office of Data Management so that the application can be pulled from Pre-Grant processing and sent back to formalities review. NOTE: Since the pre-grant will publish the drawings as filed by the applicant, the PaDaCap contractor will not query the as-filed drawings, even if they are illegible, etc.

Utility Drawings. When the Utility drawings are black and white line drawings, for pre-grant processing the USPTO will export the DRW documents from IFW. For any Utility drawings that are color/grayscale/photographic, for pre-grant processing the USPTO will export the drawings from SCORE. The DRW.NONBW versions of the Utility color/grayscale/photographic drawings will not be exported. (Any Artifact Folder for color/grayscale/photographic Utility drawings will not be sent to the PaDaCap contractor for pre-grant purposes.) For amended or redacted applications, for voluntary publications, for republications, and for some early publications, the USPTO will export EFS-Web PDF drawings, and the PaDaCap contractor will use the EFS-Web PDF drawings as the source. For other applications the PaDaCap contractor will use SCORE as the source for color/grayscale/photographic Utility line drawings, and will use IFW as the source for black and white Utility line drawings. (Drawings in FRPR documents will not be used as sources.) When the Utility SPEC refers to drawings yet drawings were not exported to the PaDaCap contractor, the PaDaCap contractor will send a query to the Office of Data Management so that the application can be pulled from Pre-Grant processing and sent back to formalities review. NOTE: Since the pre-grant will publish the drawings as filed by the applicant, the PaDaCap contractor will not query the as-filed drawings, even if they are illegible, etc.

Capture of Drawings. In general, the PaDaCap contractor will capture and publish the latest-dated drawings. However, there is no requirement that the applicant supply a complete set of replacement drawings. If the latest-dated drawings show less than the full set of drawings, then the PaDaCap contractor will use the latest-dated drawings plus the next-most-recently-dated drawings so as to have a complete set. For example:

Drawing document dated 01-13-2016 shows this:

FIGS. 1–2 (sheet 1 of 5) FIGS. 3–4 (sheet 2 of 5) FIGS. 5–6 (sheet 3 of 5) FIGS. 7–8 (sheet 4 of 5) FIGS. 9–10 (sheet 5 of 5)

Drawing document dated 04-06-2016 shows this:

FIGS. 3–4 (replacement sheet 2 of 5)

The PaDaCap contractor will capture FIGS. 1–2 and 5–10 from the 01-13-2016 document and will capture FIGS. 3–4 from the 04-06-2016 document.

Also see DATA ENTRY MANUAL FOR UTILITY PATENTS, Appendix N: EFS-Web and SCORE (Grant and Pre-Grant).

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