117.07 Change of Address
If a party to a Board proceeding or its attorney or other authorized representative moves or changes its postal address or email address, a separate notice of the change of address or email address should be filed with the Board using ESTTA, and should reference the proceeding number. [ Note 1.] It is the responsibility of a party to a proceeding before the Board to ensure that the Board has the party’s current correspondence address, including an email address. If a party fails to notify the Board of a change of address, with the result that the Board is unable to serve correspondence on the party, default judgment may be entered against the party.
A party or its attorney or other authorized representative should not assume that the inclusion of a new address or email address on a document directed to another matter, or on the envelope in which a paper is filed, is sufficient to notify the Board of a change of address. Paper correspondence sent by mail to the Office is opened in the USPTO Mail Room, and ordinarily the envelopes are discarded there before the mail is sent on to its ultimate destination within the Office. Thus, in the rare instances paper filings are permitted under the rules, the Board normally does not see the return addresses on the mailing envelopes of papers filed in Board proceedings. Moreover, while it is the normal practice of the Board to check the address on newly filed submissions and to change its records to reflect any noted change of address, the Board has no obligation to do so. The responsibility for any failure to receive correspondence due to a change of address of which the Board has not been given separate written notice lies with the party or its attorney or other authorized representative.
The best practice is to promptly file a separate change of address with the Board when the correspondence address, including an email address, for any party to a Board proceeding changes. [ Note 2.]
NOTES:
1. See 37 C.F.R. § 2.126(a).