111.02(g) A Certificate of Mailing is Not ...
As is evident from the requirements for a certificate of mailing, specified in 37 C.F.R. § 2.197(a), the certificate of mailing procedure is not the same as mailing by certified mail. Correspondence sent to the Board by certified mail, and not in compliance with the 37 C.F.R. § 2.197(a) requirements for a certificate of mailing, will be stamped with the date of receipt of the correspondence in the Office, and that date will be used for all purposes, including the timeliness of the filing of the correspondence. [ Note 1.]
Further, a certificate of mailing is not the equivalent of a certificate of service. A certificate of mailing indicates when correspondence was sent to the Office pursuant to the provisions of 37 C.F.R. § 2.197(a). The mailing date recited in a certificate of mailing is used for purposes of determining the timeliness of the filing of the correspondence bearing the certificate.
A certificate of service, on the other hand, indicates the date when a copy of the correspondence was served upon another party. A certificate of service cannot be used to prove the timeliness of the filing of the correspondence. See TBMP § 113 for information concerning a certificate of service.
NOTES:
1. See 37 C.F.R. § 2.195 and 37 C.F.R. § 2.197.