USPTO News: Pilot Program Begins for Submission of “Complex Work Units” in Electronic Formats

    By Christopher P. Singer --

In an April 14, 2008 pre-O.G. notice the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office made a request for voluntary submission of electronic Complex Work Unit (CWU) files as part of its Pilot Program.  This program became effective on April 14, 2008 and is intended to alleviate the publication burden of applications that contain various CWUs such as structural data for chemical and biological molecules, mathematical formulas, and large data tables.  Importantly, the USPTO considers submissions of a CWU in this program as a supplement (not replacement) to a paper copy submitted by mail or a PDF copy submitted by EFS-Web, of the corresponding CWU (e.g., a protein structure represented in a Figure, supplemented by the supporting structural data).  In particular, chemical structure data can be submitted in IUPAC International Chemical Identifier (InChI) formatted files, protein crystal structure data can be submitted in Protein Data Bank (PDB) compliant format, and mathematical equations can be submitted using Mathematical Markup Language (MathML) format.  Each of these particular formats consists of ASCII text strings that can be effectively submitted as a text file using EFS-Web, in light of the recent upgrade to EFS-Web 1.1.

Alternatively, the voluntary participants in this pilot program can submit the InChI, PDB, and MathML files on CD as a supplement, not a replacement (important to note) to the paper or PDF-based submission of the CWU either by mail or EFS-Web, respectively.  For CDs submitted for the purposes of this pilot program, the PTO is waiving the format requirements of 37 C.F.R. § 1.52(e).  Excluded items from this CWU pilot program are computer program listings, sequence listings, and tables in ASCII format, which must be submitted on CDs in compliance with 37 C.F.R. § 1.52(e), or by EFS-Web in accordance with the legal framework.

The PTO notes that in order to participate in this program, the following requirements must be met:

1.  The patent application submitted on paper or as a PDF file by EFS-Web must include therein at least one CWU (a table, chemical structure, 3-D protein crystal structure, or mathematical formula).

2.  Any CD or text file submitted in accordance with this program must be accompanied by a statement that the CWU file submitted in electronic form is the same as the file used to create the image of the CWU submitted as part of the paper (or PDF format) patent application.  If a discrepancy between the paper or PDF and electronic version of a CWU, the paper or PDF version will be treated as the true version.

3.  Each CD submitted must be labeled "CWU Pilot" and only one copy of each CD is required.  The files on CD must be labeled according to the instructions found here.  The provisions of 37 C.F.R. § 1.52(e) are waived to the extent that they are inconsistent with the CWU pilot program requirements.

This pilot program is expected to last six months, at which time the PTO will determine whether to extend the program, or to enact procedural changes in light of the program's success.  More information, including FAQs, about the CWU pilot program can be found here.

Comments

[Protein Crystallographer]

Example patent applications for protein crystal data can be found here: http://pxpatents.blogspot.com/