304.03 Official E-mail Correspondence from the USPTO
The USPTO will send official correspondence concerning an application or registration by e-mail from the "uspto.gov" domain to the applicant, registrant, or qualified U.S. attorney under 37 C.F.R. §11.14, unless the applicant or registrant is a national of a country exempt from the requirements to file electronically and has chosen to not use TEAS to file submissions. See 37 C.F.R. §2.23(b)-(c). Accordingly, the applicant, registrant, or qualified U.S. attorney must provide and maintain a valid e-mail address for correspondence. 37 C.F.R. §§2.18(c), 2.23(b); TMEP §609.03. See TMEP §§301.02(a)-(b) regarding exceptions to the requirement to provide an e-mail address, §609.01 regarding establishing the correspondence e-mail address, and §609.01(a) regarding e-mail correspondence in §66(a) applications. Even if there is an appointed attorney, a separate e-mail address for the applicant, registrant, or party is required under 37 C.F.R. §2.32(a)(2) so that the USPTO can contact them if representation ends.
The USPTO will not undertake double correspondence with the applicant or registrant and the applicant’s or registrant’s qualified U.S. attorney, or with more than one qualified U.S. attorney. 37 C.F.R. §2.18(b). One primary e-mail address may be designated for correspondence, but the USPTO permits up to four secondary e-mail addresses to be designated to receive courtesy copies of the correspondence. If an e-mail transmission fails for any reason, the USPTO will not attempt to contact the correspondent by any other means. See TMEP §403 regarding treatment of USPTO e-mail correspondence returned as undeliverable.
A courtesy e-mail reminder of USPTO registration maintenance filing deadlines will be sent to all e-mail addresses of record within the Correspondence and Current Owner(s) Information fields, as indicated in USPTO records. See TMEP §§1604.02, 1613.02.