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35 U.S.C. 361, Receiving Office

Executive summary:

Revision by the AIA. The U.S. Patent Act was heavily revised by the America Invents Act. Revisions that alter this section of the Act can be seen in the revision page.

Source and Index. This document contains Section 361 ("Receiving Office") of the U.S. Patent Act. This section was taken from the Eighth Edition, Eighth Revision of the MPEP (July 2010). This page was last updated in January 2011. You may return to the section index to find a particular section. Alternatively, you may search the Patent Act using the search box that appears on the left side of every page of BitLaw--you may restrict your search to Statutes on the search results page.

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35 U.S.C. 361 Receiving Office.

(a) The Patent and Trademark Office shall act as a Receiving Office for international applications filed by nationals or residents of the United States. In accordance with any agreement made between the United States and another country, the Patent and Trademark Office may also act as a Receiving Office for international applications filed by residents or nationals of such country who are entitled to file international applications.

(b) The Patent and Trademark Office shall perform all acts connected with the discharge of duties required of a Receiving Office, including the collection of international fees and their transmittal to the International Bureau.

(c) International applications filed in the Patent and Trademark Office shall be in the English language.

(d) The international fee, and the transmittal and search fees prescribed under section 376(a) of this part, shall either be paid on filing of an international application or within such later time as may be fixed by the Director.

(Added Nov. 14, 1975, Public Law 94-131, sec. 1, 89 Stat. 686; amended Nov. 8, 1984, Public Law 98-622, sec. 401(a), 403(a), 98 Stat. 3391-3392; Nov. 6, 1986, Public Law 99-616, sec. 2(d), 100 Stat. 3485; Nov. 29, 1999, Public Law 106-113, sec. 1000(a)(9), 113 Stat. 1501A-582 (S. 1948 sec. 4732(a)(10)(A)).)