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608.02(z) Allowable Applications Needing Drawing Corrections or Corrected Drawings [R-7] - 600 Parts, Form, and Content of Application
608.02(z) Allowable Applications Needing Drawing Corrections or Corrected Drawings [R-7]
If an application is being allowed, and corrected drawings have not been filed, form PTOL-37 provides an appropriate check box for requiring corrected drawings.
Allowable applications with drawings that were indicated by the applicant to be informal should be turned in for counting and forwarding to the **>Office of Data Management< without the drawings having been corrected. Examiners should not require new drawings merely because the applicant indicated that the drawings submitted on filing were informal. If at allowance, the examiner determines that correction is required, the drawings requiring correction should be placed as the top papers in the center fold of the file wrapper, if the application is maintained in paper. For Image File Wrapper (IFW) processing, see IFW Manual. A proposed drawing correction, for example a drawing sheet with corrections marked in pencil, should be stapled to the right outside flap of the file wrapper over the area having the search information. Care should be taken to make certain that the corrections have been approved by the examiner. Such approval should be made by the examiner prior to counting the allowance of the application by writing "Approved," the examiner's initials or full name, and the date, on the front page of the proposed drawing corrections. In IFW applications, generally, the most recently filed drawings will be used for printing, unless they have been indicated as "Not Entered."
Extensions of time to provide acceptable drawings after the mailing of a notice of allowability are no longer permitted. If the Office of *>Data Management< receives drawings that cannot be scanned or are otherwise unacceptable for publication, the Office of *>Data Management< will mail a requirement for corrected drawings, giving applicant a shortened statutory period of two months (with no extensions of time permitted) to reply. The drawings will ordinarily not be returned to the examiner for corrections.
I. APPLICATIONS HAVING LOST DRAWINGS
A replacement drawing should be obtained from the Office of **>Patent Application Processing's< records of the application as originally filed. If the reproduced drawings are not acceptable for publishing, applicant should be required to submit corrected drawings.
The Notice of Allowability is verified and printed using PALM, and the Notice is mailed to the applicant.
The application is then forwarded to Licensing and Review or the **>Office of Data Management<, as appropriate, using the PALM transaction code after the application has been revised for issue.
II. UTILITY PATENT APPLICATIONS RECEIVING FORMAL DRAWINGS AFTER THE NOTICE OF ALLOWABILITY
Where replacement drawings are received in utility patent applications examined with informal drawings and the Notice of Allowability was mailed prior to the receipt of the replacement drawings, the technical support staff should forward the replacement drawings to the **>Office of Data Management<. Submission to the examiner is not necessary unless an amendment accompanies the drawings which changes the specification, such as where the description of figures is added or canceled.
**III. ** 37 CFR 1.312 AMENDMENTS
For information on handling amendments to drawings filed under 37 CFR 1.312, see MPEP § 714.16.
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