What are the requirements for file naming of ASCII plain text sequence listings?

This page is an FAQ based on guidance from the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure. It is provided as guidance, with links to the ground truth sources. This is information only: it is not legal advice.

According to MPEP 2422.03(a), ASCII plain text sequence listings must follow specific file naming conventions:

• The file name must consist of either “sequencelisting” or “seqlist”.
• The file name extension must be “.txt”.
• No spaces or additional periods are allowed in the file name.

The MPEP states: “The file name must be limited to the following characters: A-Z, a-z, 0-9, underscore, hyphen, and period.” This ensures consistency and proper processing of sequence listings by the USPTO systems.