What happens if the USPTO can’t contact the patent owner during reexamination?
If the USPTO cannot deliver mail to the patent owner due to lack of a current address, and all efforts to correspond fail, the reexamination proceeding will continue without actual notice to the patent owner. In such cases, the USPTO provides constructive notice through publication in the Official Gazette.
As stated in MPEP 2230:
“The publication in the Official Gazette of (A) the notice of the filing of a request for reexamination filed under 35 U.S.C. 302, or (B) the notice of the ordering of reexamination at the initiative of the Director of the Office, will serve as constructive notice to the patent owner in such an instance.”
This means that even if the patent owner cannot be directly contacted, the reexamination process will proceed based on the public notice provided in the Official Gazette.
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