By Godson Umejiego, Correspondent USA
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a final rule permitting patent applicants to use physical media larger than compact discs, i.e., Digital Video Disc-Recordable (DVD-R or DVD+R), for submission of an electronic version of amino acid and nucleotide sequence information, information compiled in a large table, and information related to a computer program listing.
This rulemaking expands the types of physical media that can be used when submissions of such data exceed the USPTO’s patent electronic filing system capacity. Additionally, non-self-extracting file compression will be permitted if the compressed data files are compliant with the requirements of the rules of practice. Other rules of practice related to certain obsolete and non-secure methods of presenting data are eliminated.
