Determining the Acceptability of Domicile Addresses

Addresses that do not identify an actual street

address or that function as a mail forwarding address are presumptively

unacceptable as domicile addresses.

Such addresses include post-office (P.O.) boxes,

"care of" (c/o) addresses, commercial mail receiving agency (CMRA) addresses,

registered agent (RA) addresses, private mailboxes (PMB), Army Post Office (APO)

addresses, Fleet Post Office (FPO) addresses, Diplomatic Post Office (DPO)

addresses, and Highway Contract Route (HCR or HC) addresses. These addresses,

along with virtual office and shared workspace addresses, can be a mailing

address, but generally may not serve as domicile addresses because they do not

identify the location of the place the person resides and intends to be the

person’s principal home (for a natural person) or the location of a juristic

entity’s headquarters where the entity’s senior executives or officers ordinarily

direct and control the entity’s activities (for a juristic entity).

Examining attorneys and post-registration examiners

are not required to confirm or research a listed domicile address in the initial

application or maintenance filing, but they must require the applicant or

registrant to provide an acceptable domicile address if:

(1) it is apparent that the address is an

unacceptable type of domicile address (e.g., P.O. box, c/o, PMB, APO, FPO,

DPO, HCR or HC appears in the address); or

(2) the examining attorney receives specific

guidance that the domicile address should not be accepted.

Examining attorneys and post-registration examiners

must also require a domicile address if an applicant or registrant fails to

provide a street address entirely or provides a clearly invalid address (e.g., 123

Street Name, Your City, State, 12345).

Examining attorneys and post-registration examiners

must require an acceptable domicile address even if the applicant or registrant

provided the unacceptable domicile address in the masked “Domicile Address” field

equire a domicile address if an applicant or registrant fails to

provide a street address entirely or provides a clearly invalid address (e.g., 123

Street Name, Your City, State, 12345).

Examining attorneys and post-registration examiners

must require an acceptable domicile address even if the applicant or registrant

provided the unacceptable domicile address in the masked “Domicile Address” field.

In such cases, an examining attorney or post-registration examiner should not list

the exact address in the Office action. However, if evidence is being attached to

the Office action to support the inquiry, an examining attorney may attach

evidence that identifies the address if necessary. Applicant may then later

petition the USPTO to have that information redacted.

No requirement for a street address should be made

to U.S. government entities or federally recognized American Indian and Alaska

Native tribes with a U.S. post-office box address. In addition, although APO, FPO,

and DPO addresses are presumptively unacceptable as a domicile address, such

addresses are considered U.S. addresses even if located in a foreign country.

Domicile address may not be obtained by

examiner’s amendment

. Not all applicants understand that domicile

address information entered by examiner’s amendment will become part of the public

record. Therefore, examining attorneys may not obtain and enter an applicant’s

domicile address by examiner’s amendment, even if the applicant indicates an

understanding that domicile information entered in this manner will not be hidden

or “masked.”