412.05 Handling of Confidential Materials by the Board
A confidential filing submitted via ESTTA, and properly designated as confidential, will not be made available for public viewing, although an entry will be made on the publicly-available docket sheet in TTABVUE, indicating the Board’s receipt of such filings. If a confidential filing is not properly designated as confidential when submitted via ESTTA, the submission will be placed in the Board’s public records, available on the Internet. The Board will retain electronic versions of all submissions, including confidential filings, pursuant to USPTO document retention policies. Thus, confidential matter submitted via ESTTA is retained in the Board’s electronic records and will not be deleted from the electronic records after the proceeding is finally determined.
Confidential materials submitted, where appropriate, in non-electronic, i.e, paper or physical form (including trade secret information), and filed under seal subject to a protective order are stored by the Board in a secure location, and are disclosed only to the Board and to those people specified in the protective order as having the right to access. Confidential paper submissions, made only when appropriate, are scanned into TTABVUE and designated "confidential." After scanning and designation as "confidential," the Board retains the confidential paper submissions for a short period of time before disposing of the confidential paper submissions in an appropriate manner. Following the conclusion of a proceeding, including any appeal period, any physical confidential materials submitted will be disposed of by the Board in an appropriate manner. See TBMP § 806 (Termination of Proceeding).
For further information regarding the handling of paper, physical materials, and confidential materials by the Board, see TBMP § 119.03 and TBMP § 120.02. For information concerning access to protective order materials during an appeal from the decision of the Board, see TBMP § 904.