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37 CFR 1.824: Form and format for nucleotide and/or amino acid sequence submissions in computer readable form

Taken from the Ninth Edition of the MPEP, Revision 10.2019, Last Revised in June 2020

CFR Part Index | Key Word Index
Part 1: Rules of Practice in Patent Cases
Subpart G - Biotechnology Invention Disclosures
Application Disclosures Containing Nucleotide And/Or Amino Acid Sequences

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1.824    Form and format for nucleotide and/or amino acid sequence submissions in computer readable form.

  • (a) The computer readable form required by § 1.821(e) shall meet the following requirements:
    • (1) The computer readable form shall contain a single "Sequence Listing" as either a diskette, series of diskettes, or other permissible media outlined in paragraph (c) of this section.
    • (2) The "Sequence Listing" in paragraph (a)(l) of this section shall be submitted in American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) text. No other formats shall be allowed.
    • (3) The computer readable form may be created by any means, such as word processors, nucleotide/amino acid sequence editors’ or other custom computer programs; however, it shall conform to all requirements detailed in this section.
    • (4) File compression is acceptable when using diskette media, so long as the compressed file is in a self-extracting format that will decompress on one of the systems described in paragraph (b) of this section.
    • (5) Page numbering must not appear within the computer readable form version of the "Sequence Listing" file.
    • (6) All computer readable forms must have a label permanently affixed thereto on which has been hand-printed or typed: the name of the applicant, the title of the invention, the date on which the data were recorded on the computer readable form, the operating system used, a reference number, and an application number and filing date, if known. If multiple diskettes are submitted, the diskette labels must indicate their order (e.g., "1 of X").
  • (b) Computer readable form submissions must meet these format requirements:
    • (1) Computer Compatibility: IBM PC/XT/AT or Apple Macintosh;
    • (2) Operating System Compatibility: MS-DOS, MS-Windows, Unix or Macintosh;
    • (3) Line Terminator: ASCII Carriage Return plus ASCII Line Feed; and
    • (4) Pagination: Continuous file (no "hard page break" codes permitted).
  • (c) Computer readable form files submitted may be in any of the following media:
    • (1) Diskette: 3.50 inch, 1.44 Mb storage; 3.50 inch, 720 Kb storage; 5.25 inch, 1.2 Mb storage; 5.25 inch, 360 Kb storage.
    • (2) Magnetic tape: 0.5 inch, up to 24000 feet; Density: 1600 or 6250 bits per inch, 9 track; Format: Unix tar command; specify blocking factor (not "block size"); Line Terminator: ASCII Carriage Return plus ASCII Line Feed.
    • (3) 8mm Data Cartridge: Format: Unix tar command; specify blocking factor (not "block size"); Line Terminator: ASCII Carriage Return plus ASCII Line Feed.
    • (4) Compact disc: Format: ISO 9660 or High Sierra Format.
    • (5) Magneto Optical Disk: Size/Storage Specifications: 5.25 inch, 640 Mb.
  • (d) Computer readable forms that are submitted to the Office will not be returned to the applicant.
[Added, 55 FR 18230, May 1, 1990, effective Oct. 1, 1990; revised, 63 FR 29620, June 1, 1998, effective July 1, 1998; revised, 65 FR 54604, Sept. 8, 2000, effective Sept. 8, 2000 (effective date corrected, 65 FR 78958, Dec. 18, 2000)]