717.01    Returned Office Action

If an emailed notification of an issued Office action is returned as undeliverable, the USPTO will not send a paper copy of the Office action. See TMEP §304 regarding email and TMEP §403 for more information about returned correspondence. Trademark applicants and registrants should monitor the status of their applications and submissions in support of maintenance of registrations by checking the status every six months between the filing date of the application or maintenance submission and the issuance of a registration or notice of acceptance. See TMEP §§108.03 and 1705.05 regarding due diligence and the duty to monitor status.

If a mailed Office action is returned to the USPTO because the United States Postal Service was not able to deliver it, the returned action and envelope will be scanned into the electronic record.  See TMEP §717 regarding the applicable procedure if an Office action is sent to the wrong address due to a USPTO error. If no communication from the applicant is received within the period for response, the application will be abandoned. See TMEP §§1712–1712.02(b)(iii) regarding requesting reinstatement of applications and registrations abandoned due to USPTO error and TMEP §§1714–1714.01(f)(i) concerning filing a petition to revive an application abandoned due to unintentional delay.