Where should the service of prior art or Section 301 written statements be addressed?

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.

When serving prior art or Section 301 written statements on a patent owner, the service should be addressed to the correspondence address as specified in the patent regulations. The MPEP states:

“The service to the patent owner should be addressed to the correspondence address as set forth in 37 CFR 1.33(c).”

This means that the service should be sent to the official correspondence address on record for the patent. For more information on the correspondence address, the MPEP directs readers to MPEP § 2222.