1207.04    Evidence Filed with Timely Request for Reconsideration

A timely request for reconsideration of an appealed action may be accompanied by additional evidence, which will thereby be made part of the evidentiary record in the application. [ Note 1.] There is no need, in such a situation, for a 37 C.F.R. § 2.142(d)  request to suspend and remand for additional evidence. Evidence submitted with a timely request for reconsideration of an appealed action, that is, a request filed during the response period following issuance of the appealed action, is considered by the Board to have been filed prior to appeal, even if the notice of appeal was, in fact, filed earlier in the response period than the request for reconsideration. See TBMP § 1204. However, if the applicant has already filed a brief, then the Board will treat the request for reconsideration as a request for remand for which good cause must be shown, even if the request for reconsideration is filed within the time provided in the final Office action, which is six months until December 1, 2022. [ Note 2.] See TBMP § 1204.

When a timely request for reconsideration of an appealed action is filed (with or without new evidence), the examining attorney may submit, with their response to the request, new evidence directed to the issue(s) for which reconsideration is sought. [ Note 3.] However, the applicant may not submit additional evidence in response to any evidence submitted by the examining attorney unless the examining attorney’s action is a nonfinal action to which a response may be filed. Otherwise, if the applicant wishes to submit additional evidence, it must file a request for remand. [ Note 4.] See TBMP § 1207.01 and TBMP § 1207.02. This is the case even if the response is filed within the time provided in the final Office action. If the examining attorney denies a request for reconsideration after a notice of appeal is filed, a second request for reconsideration will be treated as a request for remand even if it is filed within the time provided in the final Office action. See TBMP § 1204, TBMP § 1207.02 and TBMP § 1209.04.

NOTES:

 1.   In re Petroglyph Games, Inc., 91 USPQ2d 1332, 1334 (TTAB 2009).

 2.   See also TMEP § 715.04(b).

 3.   In re Davey Products Pty Ltd., 92 USPQ2d 1198, 1201 (TTAB 2009) (evidence submitted in response to request for reconsideration that is filed with notice of appeal is part of the application record); In re Giger, 78 USPQ 1405, 1406-07 (TTAB 2006). See also In re Jimmy Moore LLC, 119 USPQ2d 1764, 1767 (TTAB 2016) (may submit evidence in a request for reconsideration to a "subsequent final refusal").

 4.   See 37 C.F.R. § 2.142(d)(1); In re HerbalScience Group LLC, 96 USPQ2d 1321, 1323 (TTAB 2010).