Adoption of Updated WIPO Standard ST.26; Revision to Incorporation by Reference

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) is adopting the recently revised World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Standard ST.26, version 1.6, approved November 25, 2022, for incorporation by reference into its regulations addressing application disclosures containing nucleotide and/or amino acid sequences. The USPTO is also correcting a grammatical oversight in one of its sequence regulations. The USPTO first amended its rules in 2022 to incorporate by reference certain provisions of WIPO Standard ST.26. In addition to simplifying the process for applicants filing in multiple countries, the ST.26 requirement to submit a single sequence listing in eXtensible Mark-up Language (XML) format provides better preservation, accessibility, and sorting of the submitted sequence data for the public. Among other improvements, the new version of ST.26 clarifies requirements, improves descriptions, and corrects editorial mistakes.