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2422.04 The Requirement for a Computer Readable Copy of the Official Copy of the Sequence Listing - 2400 Biotechnology
2422.04 The Requirement for a Computer Readable Copy of the Official Copy of the Sequence Listing
37 CFR 1.821(e) requires the submission of a copy of the "Sequence Listing" in computer readable form. The information on the computer readable form will be entered into the Office's database for searching and printing nucleotide and amino acid sequences. This electronic database will also enable the Office to exchange patented sequence data, in electronic form, with the Japanese Patent Office and the European Patent Office. It should be noted that the Office's database complies with the confidentiality requirement imposed by 35 U.S.C. 122. Pending application sequences are maintained in the database separately from published or patented sequences. That is, the Office will not exchange or make public any information on any sequence until the patent application containing that information is published or matures into a patent, or as otherwise allowed by 35 U.S.C. 122.
The "Sequence Listing" submitted pursuant to 37 CFR 1.821(c), whether on paper or compact disc, is the official copy of the "Sequence Listing." However, the Office may permit correction of the official copy, at the least, during the pendency of a given application by reference to the computer readable copy thereof submitted pursuant to 37 CFR 1.821(e) if both the official copy and computer readable form were submitted at the time of filing of the application and the totality of the circumstances otherwise substantiate the proposed correction. A mere discrepancy between the official copy and the computer readable form may not, in and of itself, be sufficient to justify a proposed correction. In this regard, the Office will assume that the computer readable form has been incorporated by reference into the application when the official copy and computer readable form were submitted at the time of filing of the application. The Office will attempt to accommodate or address all correction issues, but it must be kept in mind that the real burden rests with the applicant to ensure that any discrepancies between the official copy and the computer readable form are eliminated or minimized. Applicants should be aware that there will be instances where the applicant may have to suffer the consequences of any discrepancies between the two.
The Office does not desire to be bound by a requirement to permanently preserve computer readable forms for support, priority or correction purposes. For example, the Office will make corrections, where appropriate, by reference to the computer readable form as long as the computer readable form is still available to the Office. However, once use of the computer readable form by the Office for processing has ended, i.e., once the Office has entered the data contained on the computer readable form into the appropriate database, the Office does not intend to further preserve the computer readable form submitted by the applicant.
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