What is the filing date for applications filed using Priority Mail Express?
For applications properly filed using Priority Mail Express® (formerly Express Mail) through the U.S. Postal Service, the filing date is the date of deposit with the postal service. The MPEP states:
“For applications properly filed under 37 CFR 1.10, the filing date is the date that the application was deposited as Priority Mail Express® in the U.S. Postal Service.”
This means that even if the application is deposited on a Saturday, and the U.S. Postal Service marks it with a Saturday date, the USPTO will accord and stamp the correspondence with the Saturday date.
However, if the proper procedures for using Priority Mail Express® were not followed, the application will receive a filing date as of the date it was received in the USPTO. Any dispute regarding the filing date in such cases would require a petition, as explained in the MPEP:
“Any review of these matters would be by way of petition, accompanied by the petition fee (37 CFR 1.17(f)), providing whatever arguments and evidence petitioner has that the application is entitled to a filing date as of the date it was deposited as Priority Mail Express®.”
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