Thursday, January 29, 2009

Sequence Listing e-Filing Options Using EFS-Web

Since the launch of EFS-Web in the fall of 2006, applicants have had the option of e-filing sequence listings as text (.txt) files only, rather than filing sequence listings in both paper and computer readable copies. Several biotech prosecutors in our office have had recent discussion and debate about what files and statements can or must be filed with an EFS-Web filed sequence listing in order to be compliant with the requirements under the Legal Framework and in order for it to be considered as part of the original application.

As we discussed in November 2006 (see "Hassle-Free Filing of Sequence Listings on EFS-Web Version 1.1"), the early version of EFS-Web was limited because it allowed submission of files in .pdf format only and was not able to handle sequence listing filings because they needed to be submitted as text files (.txt). Since the upgrade to EFS-Web 1.1 in October of 2006, practitioners have been able to electronically submit text files such as sequence listings, computer program listings, and mega tables.

The details can be read here.

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