601.01(c)(v)    Checking the Record for a Petition to the Director to Waive the Domicile Address Requirement

Prior to issuing or maintaining a domicile address requirement, the examining attorney or post-registration examiner must check the record to ensure that a petition to the Director to waive the domicile address requirement has not been filed or granted. The petition will be uploaded into all referenced records. The examining attorney or post-registration examiner must carefully review the record for a notice of pending petitions. The final petition decision will also be uploaded to all relevant records. See TMEP §1708.01 regarding petitions to the Director to waive the domicile address requirement.

If a petition to the Director to waive the domicile address requirement has been granted, a requirement for a domicile address must not subsequently issue.

If an applicant or registrant asserts in a response that it has filed a petition to waive the domicile address requirement or was granted a waiver of the requirement, but a petition, Note to the File, or other notice of a pending petition does not appear in the record, the examining attorney or post-registration examiner must contact the Petitions Office to inquire whether a petition was filed or decided.

See TMEP §716.02(l) for circumstances when action may be suspended by the examining attorney pending a decision on a petition to the Director to waive the domicile address requirement.

Holding a post-registration filing. Post-registration examiners will hold action on a post-registration filing pending a petition decision. If a petition to the Director is pending after a continued domicile address requirement has been issued in a post-registration filing, and the filing appears to be otherwise in condition for acceptance and/or acknowledgement, the post-registration examiner should hold the filing pending a decision on the petition. Once the petition decision is issued, a petitions attorney or paralegal will notify the lead that a decision has issued and the post-registration examiner may proceed with appropriate action on the post-registration filing.