T.M.E.P. § 717.02
Non-Receipt of Office Action
Executive summary:
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717.02 Non-Receipt of Office Action
If an applicant or applicant's attorney notifies the USPTO before the expiration of the response period that the applicant did not receive an action, the examining attorney must check to determine whether the action was properly addressed, i.e., mailed to the correspondence address of record. See TMEP §§603 et seq.
If the Office action was mailed to the correspondence address of record, and there is time remaining in the response period, the examining attorney should send a copy of the action to the applicant, and should advise the applicant that the deadline for response runs from the original mailing date, and that a response must be received in the USPTO before this deadline to avoid abandonment. If the response period has expired, the examining attorney should advise the applicant that the application is abandoned, and that the applicant may file a petition to revive under 37 C.F.R. 2.66. See TMEP §§1714 et seq. regarding petitions to revive. In either situation, the examining attorney should make an appropriate note to the file.
If there is evidence in the file that the USPTO sent the Office action to the wrong address due to an Office error (see TMEP §717) , the examining attorney will take the file to the SLIE, who will remail the Office action with a new mailing date. The deadline for response will run from the new mailing date. If the application had been abandoned, it will be reinstated. See TMEP §1712.01 regarding reinstatement of applications that are abandoned due to Office error.