601.01(b)(1) Post-office Box, "Care of" (c/o) Address, Address Provided by a Mail Forwarding Service, or Other Similar Variation
The USPTO allows applicants and registrants to provide a mailing address for the owner that is different from its domicile address. A post-office box, "care of" (c/o) address, address provided by a mail forwarding service, or other similar variation can be a mailing address, but in most cases cannot be a domicile address because such address usually does not identify the location of the place the person resides and intends to be the person’s principal home (for a natural person) or the location of a juristic entity’s headquarters where its senior executives or officers ordinarily direct and control the entity’s activities and tends to be the center from where other locations are controlled (for a juristic entity).
For example, a mail forwarding service is a private service that provides an address where mail can be sent to before being forwarded to a second address. If an applicant or registrant lists such an address as its domicile, or fails to provide a street address entirely, the applicant or registrant will be required to provide a street address. Alternatively, an applicant may demonstrate that the listed address is, in fact, its domicile.
If an applicant lists as its domicile address a post-office box, "care of" address, address provided by a mail forwarding service, or other similar variation, even if the address is hidden (see TMEP §601.01(d)), or no street address at all, the examining attorney or post registration specialist will require the applicant’s or registrant’s street address. See 37 C.F.R §2.32(a).
If the applicant is an unrepresented U.S. citizen who specifies a post office box, "care of" address, mail forwarding, or non-street address as the owner address, the examining attorney may contact the applicant to obtain the applicant’s domicile address and may enter the address by examiner’s amendment, if otherwise appropriate. See TMEP §609.02(b) regarding the requirements for requesting to change the correspondence address.
If the applicant or registrant adds a non-U.S. street address as its domicile, the USPTO will follow the procedures in TMEP §601.01(a). If the applicant or registrant adds a U.S. street address as its domicile, the USPTO will follow the procedures in TMEP §601.01(b).
If the applicant does not amend the listed domicile to a street address, and fails to demonstrate that the listed address is its domicile, the examining attorney will issue a final action as to the requirements regarding domicile and all other unresolved refusals and/or requirements, if the application is otherwise in condition for final action. If the registrant does not amend the listed domicile to a street address, and fails to demonstrate that the listed address is its domicile, the post-registration specialist will issue a second action maintaining the requirements regarding domicile and all other unresolved refusals and/or requirements.
No requirement for a street address should be made to U.S. government entities or federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes with a U.S. post-office box address.