Modification to Temporary Postponement of Electronic Filing and Payment Rules for Certain Madrid Protocol-related Rules

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is extending, until November 2, 2004, a temporary postponement of those provisions of the Trademark Rules of Practice that require electronic transmission to the USPTO of applications for international registration, responses to irregularity notices, and subsequent designations submitted pursuant to the Madrid Protocol. The postponement was announced most recently in a document published in the Federal Register on November 7, 2003. The USPTO is also extending a temporary suspension, announced in the same Federal Register document, of those provisions of the Rules of Practice that allow payment of fees charged by the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization (IB) to be submitted through the USPTO, and those provisions of the Trademark Rules of Practice that require that all fees for international trademark applications and subsequent designations be paid at the time of filing. The extensions and postponements announced herein are procedural in nature and do not affect any substantive rights.