608.05(b) ASCII Plain Text Submissions of “Large Tables” and Treatment of Lengthy Tables in a Specification for Patents and Patent Application Publications [R-07.2022]

608.05(b) ASCII Plain Text Submissions of “Large Tables” and Treatment of Lengthy Tables in a Specification for Patents and Patent Application Publications [R-07.2022]

The USPTO prefers that specifications having tables are submitted electronically via the USPTO patent electronic filing system. However, any specification and/or tables submitted on physical sheets of paper should conform to the applicable provisions of 37 CFR 1.52 and 37 CFR 1.58 and will be subject to a non-electronic filing fee. See 37 CFR 1.16(t). When tables must be disclosed in a patent application in order to provide a complete disclosure, use of paper copies can become burdensome. In the past, all disclosures forming part of a patent application were presented on paper with the exception of “Sequence Listings” and a “Computer Program Listing Appendix”. Under 37 CFR 1.58(c)et seq., several different methods for submitting “Large Tables” are set forth, including submitting ASCII plain text files on read-only optical disc(s) in the form of CD-ROM, CD-R, DVD-R, or DVD+R. Applicant(s) may also submit “Large Tables” as ASCII plain text files via the USPTO patent electronic filing system.

See MPEP § 608.05, subsection I., for details pertaining to submission of ASCII plain text files via the USPTO patent electronic filing system, and subsection III., for details pertaining to submissions on read-only optical disc(s). Also, substantial details regarding submitting ASCII plain text files are incorporated into 37 CFR 1.58(c)et seq., which are discussed more in subsection I below, and subsection II below discusses the treatment of lengthy tables in a specification for patents and patent application publications.

I.“LARGE TABLES” FILED IN ASCII PLAIN TEXT VIA THE USPTO PATENT ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM OR ON READ-ONLY OPTICAL DISC

As defined in 37 CFR 1.58(c), “Large Tables” that may be submitted in electronic form in ASCII plain text are 1) any individual table that is more than 50 pages in length, or 2) multiple tables, if the total number of pages of all the tables in an application exceeds 100 pages in length. A table page is a page printed on paper, in conformance with 37 CFR 1.58(b). The presentation of a subheading to divide a large table into smaller sections of less than 51 pages should not be used to prevent an applicant from submitting the table in electronic form in ASCII plain text unless the subdivided tables are presented as numerous files so as to lose their relationship to the overall large table. A single table contained on 50 pages or less and multiple tables contained on 100 pages or less must be submitted either as drawings (in compliance with 37 CFR 1.84) or as part of the specification on physical sheets of paper (in compliance with 37 CFR 1.52) or via the USPTO patent electronic filing system (in compliance with the Legal Framework for Patent Electronic System (see MPEP § 502.05)). When submitting “Large Tables” as ASCII plain text files, each table should be submitted as a separate text file. Further, the file name for each table should indicate which table is contained therein. It is noted that “Large Tables” cannot be filed in ASCII plain text in an international application during the international stage (see 37 CFR 1.58(c)).

The text files submitted via the USPTO patent electronic filing system or stored on read-only optical disc(s) containing the “Large Tables” must contain only ASCII characters. All printable characters (including the space character) are permitted, but no nonprintable (ASCII control) characters are permitted, except ASCII Carriage Return plus ASCII Line FEED (CRLF) or Line Feed (LF) as line terminators. No special formatting characters or proprietary file formats are permitted. Accordingly, great care must be taken so that the spatial arrangement of the data in rows and columns is maintained in the table when the file is opened for viewing at the Office. This will allow the table to be viewed with virtually any text viewer. See 37 CFR 1.58(d). “Large Tables” submitted in ASCII plain text must be compatible with PC or Mac^® computers and with MS-DOS^®, MS-Windows^®, Mac OS^®, or Unix^®/Linux^® operating systems. See 37 CFR 1.58(d)(2). Also, “Large Tables” submitted in ASCII plain text must have a file name with a “.txt” extension. See 37 CFR 1.58(d)(4), provides all the requirements for the file name. Further, “Large Tables” submitted in ASCII plain text must be incorporated by reference in a separate paragraph of the specification, in accordance with 37 CFR 1.77(b)(5). See 37 CFR 1.58(d)(5).

There is a 25 MB size limit for “Large Tables” files submitted in ASCII plain text via the USPTO patent electronic filing system with file compression not being permitted. See 37 CFR 1.58(e). It is noted that it may be possible to break up a “Large Tables” file that is larger than 25 MB into multiple files that are 25 MB or less in size and submit those smaller files via the USPTO patent electronic filing system, as per the Legal Framework for Patent Electronic System (www.uspto.gov). See also MPEP § 608.05(I)(C).

While “Large Tables” files submitted in ASCII plain text via the USPTO patent electronic filing system cannot be compressed, “Large Tables” submitted in compliance with 37 CFR 1.52(e) via read-only optical disc(s) are now able to be compressed. See 37 CFR 1.58(f). Compression was allowed to significantly reduce the number of physical media required to accommodate large files. The “Large Tables” file may be compressed using WinZip^®, 7-Zip, or Unix^®/Linux^® Zip, and the compressed file must not be self-extracting. If after compression, a compressed “Large Tables” file still does not fit on a single read-only optical disc, the compressed file may be split into multiple file parts in accordance with the target read-only optical disc size and labeled in compliance with 37 CFR 1.52(e)(5)(vi).

In order to amend “Large Tables” in ASCII plain text format, a replacement ASCII plain text file, in accordance with 37 CFR 1.58(d)–(f), must be submitted via the USPTO patent electronic filing system or on a read-only optical disc, in compliance with 37 CFR 1.52(e). Any read-only optical disc with a replacement ASCII plain text file must be labeled as “REPLACEMENT MM/DD/YYYY” with the month, day, and year of creation indicated. When the information is filed on a read-only optical disc initially, amendments cannot be made to the information using the USPTO patent electronic filing system, but instead must be made using a replacement read-only optical disc. See 37 CFR 1.52(e)(7) and 1.58(j). Also, a request must be made that the material in the replacement ASCII plain text file be incorporated by reference in a separate paragraph of the specification (replacing any prior such paragraph, as applicable) identifying the name of the file, the date of creation, and the size of the file in bytes. See 37 CFR 1.77(b)(5). A statement must be provided that identifies the location of all deletions, replacements, or additions to the ASCII plain text file so that the changes made to the information contained in the submission can be more easily and accurately identified. Another statement that the replacement ASCII plain text file contains no new matter must also be provided. See 37 CFR 1.58(g). The Office may also require that a replacement ASCII plain text file be submitted if, for example, the information on a read-only optical disc is corrupted.

“Large Tables” filed as an ASCII plain text file on the date that the application was accorded a filing date are to be treated as part of the originally filed disclosure even if the requisite “incorporation by reference” statement (see 37 CFR 1.77(b)(5)) is omitted. Similarly, if a preliminary amendment accompanies the application when it is filed in the Office and the preliminary amendment includes “Large Tables” as an ASCII plain text file, the “Large Tables” will be treated as part of the original disclosure. The “Large Tables” are considered part of the original disclosure by virtue of its inclusion with the application on the date the application is accorded a filing date. The incorporation by reference statement of the material in the ASCII plain text file is required to be part of the specification so it is clear to the Office, the printer, and the public that the application as originally filed includes the “Large Tables” in the ASCII plain text file. The examiner should require applicant(s) to insert this statement if it is omitted. See 37 CFR 1.58(h). Also, if the application would otherwise be in condition for allowance, the examiner may insert the statement by examiner’s amendment with a notice of allowance after receiving authorization from the applicant. See MPEP § 1302.04 and 37 CFR 1.121(g).

Read-only optical discs containing “Large Tables” must be submitted in duplicate and labeled as “Copy 1” and “Copy 2” respectively. The transmittal letter that accompanies the read-only optical discs must include a statement that the two read-only optical discs are identical. In the event that the two read-only optical disc copies are not identical, the Office will use the read-only optical disc labeled “Copy 1” for further processing. See 37 CFR 1.58(i). Two discs would be considered not identical when, e.g., the files contained on those discs are not the same. Duplicate copies for “Large Tables” are required to be submitted since the OPAP keeps a first copy for record retention purposes and a second copy in an artifact folder for use by the examiner during the patent examination process.

Any amendment to the information on a read-only optical disc containing “Large Tables” must be by way of replacement read-only optical discs submitted in duplicate in compliance with 37 CFR 1.58(g). The replacement read-only optical disc and copy must be labeled “COPY 1 REPLACEMENT MM/DD/YYY” (with the month, day, and year of creation indicated), and “COPY 2 REPLACEMENT MM/DD/YYYY,” respectively. When the information is filed on a read-only optical disc initially, amendments cannot be made to the information using the USPTO patent electronic filing system, but instead must be made using a replacement read-only optical disc. See 37 CFR 1.52(e)(7) and 1.58(j).

While most tables filed with patent applications are intended to be rendered in portrait mode, “Large Tables” are permitted to be in landscape orientation if they cannot be presented satisfactorily in portrait orientation. Viewing documents in Private PAIR or Patent Center or by examiners in their desktop examination tools permit rotating pages from portrait to landscape and vice versa.

II. TREATMENT OF LENGTHY TABLES IN A SPECIFICATION FOR PATENTS OR PATENT APPLICATION PUBLICATIONS

The cost of printing long tables in patent documents is very expensive to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Accordingly, if tables on more than two hundred consecutive pages, or large numbers of tables (lengthy tables) are submitted on a read-only optical disc or as text files submitted via the USPTO patent electronic filing system as provided in 37 CFR 1.52(e) and 1.58(c), or in an electronic format (XML, tab-delimited text, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Work, Corel WordPerfect) in response to a “Request to Voluntarily Supply Lengthy Table(s) in Electronic Format” from the Office of Data Management, these lengthy tables will not be published as part of a patent document (e.g., patent or patent application publication. The lengthy tables will be published separately on the sequence homepage of the USPTO website (https://seqdata.uspto.gov). See, for example, patent application publication nos. US 20030235811 A1 and US 20030237110 A9.

Should an applicant need to include numerous tables in the specification, and such tables are on more than two hundred consecutive pages or large numbers of tables (lengthy tables) are present in the specification, such tables may be submitted as “Large Tables” in ASCII plain text in accordance with 1.58(c). If a lengthy table is embedded in the specification of a patent application, and if the lengthy table is available in an electronic form (either XML or a format convertible to XML), when the patent or patent application publication is published, the following single-column statement will be inserted in place of each replaced table in the document.

When the lengthy tables are separately published on the USPTO website, there will be a standardized lengthy table statement, in the patent document following the detailed description (see 37 CFR 1.77(b)(10)).

For a patent application publication, the following page-wide text would appear:

For a patent, the following page-wide text would appear:

Form paragraphs 6.63.01 and 6.63.02 may be used to notify applicant of corrections needed to comply with the requirements of 37 CFR 1.52(e) and 37 CFR 1.58(c)et seq. with respect to tables.