1714.01(a)(i)    Response to Nonfinal Office Action

The procedural requirements for filing a petition to revive an application abandoned for failure to respond to an examining attorney’s nonfinal Office action are listed in 37 C.F.R. §2.66(b).  The petition must include all of the following:

  • (1) The petition fee required by 37 C.F.R. §2.6;
  • (2) A statement, signed by someone with firsthand knowledge of the facts, that the delay in filing the response on or before the due date was unintentional.  The statement does not have to be verified; and
  • (3) A properly signed response to the Office action or a statement that the applicant did not receive the Office action or the notification that an Office action issued.  

Note that an applicant may not assert again that it did not receive the same Office action or notification in a subsequent petition. 37 C.F.R. §2.66(b)(3).

If the petition states that applicant did not receive the Office action, and the petition is granted, the examining attorney will conduct a new search and issue a new Office action and provide the applicant with a new response period, or, if all issues previously raised remain the same, after reviving the application, the USPTO will send a notice to the applicant directing the applicant to view the previously issued Office action on the TSDR portal on the USPTO website at http://tsdr.uspto.gov/, and provide the applicant with a new six-month period in which to file a response.

See TMEP §718.02(a) regarding a petition to revive a portion of an application that was partially abandoned. See TMEP §1714.01 regarding situations in which a petition to revive fails to meet the procedural requirements of 37 C.F.R. §2.66(b)  (e.g., when there is no allegation that the applicant did not receive the Office action, but the petition does not include a proposed response).