119.02 Submissions and Fees--Ex Parte Cases
After an application has received a filing date, submissions filed in connection therewith, including ex parte appeal papers, will not be returned. [ Note 1.] Use of ESTTA for filing with the Board is required. ESTTA will not accept untimely filings or filings with insufficient fees.
In the rare instance that the rules permit a paper-filed notice of appeal, if a notice of appeal to the Board from an examining attorney’s final refusal is late filed, the appeal will not be entertained, the application will be abandoned, the notice of appeal will be retained in the Board’s file, and any appeal fee submitted therewith will be refunded. If a notice of appeal is filed prematurely, the appeal will not be entertained, the notice of appeal will be retained in the Board’s file, the application will be returned to the examining attorney for further appropriate action, and applicant will be advised that if a timely appeal is subsequently filed in the case, any fee submitted with the premature appeal will be applied thereto, or, if no timely appeal is filed, applicant may request a refund of any such fee.
If a final refusal to register is withdrawn by the examining attorney, and the application is approved for publication, following which the applicant, not knowing that the application has been approved for publication, files a notice of appeal, the appeal will not be instituted, the notice of appeal will be retained in the Board’s file, and any appeal fee submitted therewith will be refunded. In such a case, the notice of appeal, and appeal fee, are considered to have been filed in excess, rather than by change of purpose, since at the time of its filing, the appeal was unnecessary. If, however, the examining attorney withdraws the refusal to register, and approves the application for publication after an appeal to the Board has been filed, the appeal will be dismissed as moot, and the appeal fee will not be refunded (the appeal having been necessary at the time of its filing).
NOTES:
1. See 37 C.F.R. § 2.25 (Documents not returnable).