Christy,
Thank you for flagging this and bringing it to our attention promptly. We appreciate C&H continuing to monitor deadlines on the docket during the freeze — this is exactly the kind of situation we can't afford to miss.
I've discussed this with Marcus Whitfield and Daniel Everhart (CFO), and we are authorizing Calderwood Harkness to proceed with filing a **four-month extension of time** for U.S. Application No. 17/814,057 (the B1 electrode fabrication process application, Sub-Family B) to extend the deadline for responding to the Restriction Requirement issued by the USPTO. We are approving the **$2,560 USPTO extension fee** at the small entity rate for the 4-month extension.
As you know, we remain under the quarterly spend cap ($25,000/quarter) for discretionary outside counsel IP spending that has been in place since the Project Lighthouse budget freeze took effect on August 11, 2023, and the docket has been largely dormant since then. However, this particular expenditure — primarily a USPTO government fee — falls within the emergency-exception category that Marcus cleared directly with Christine Paulsen at Veltrano Capital Partners for situations where failure to act would result in permanent loss of patent rights. Abandonment of the '057 application is not a recoverable outcome, so the exception applies here.
To be clear on scope: **this authorization covers only the extension filing and associated government fee.** It does not authorize substantive work on the Restriction Requirement response itself at this time. The 4-month extension should move the response deadline to **April 21, 2025**, and we will need to address the substantive election and response separately as that date approaches. We'll circle back with you and Catherine on that well in advance.
**Billing instructions:** Please bill the $2,560 government fee and any minimal attorney time needed to prepare and file the extension under the existing **C&H Matter No. 1014-00005**. I'd ask that you keep attorney time to the minimum necessary — just what's required to get the extension request prepared and filed. On the collections side, we are aware of the outstanding invoices (Invoice Nos. 2023-07-04187 and 2023-08-04187) as well as the unbilled WIP on the matter. Daniel Everhart's office is working on getting payment processed, and we appreciate your patience given the current budget environment.
**On timing** — the original 2-month response period gives us a deadline of **October 21, 2024**, so the extension needs to be on file before that date. Please confirm with me once the extension has been filed, and send over a copy of the filed request and the fee receipt for our records.
One additional note: I'm aware there are other deadlines approaching on the broader docket, particularly for U.S. App. No. 17/672,204 (A1). Marcus and I will need to discuss those with your team soon, but I want to handle that conversation separately once we have clarity on additional budget approvals. I'll be reaching out on the A1 situation in the coming weeks.
Thank you again to you and the C&H team for staying on top of things. We know the freeze has made the relationship more difficult to manage, and we don't take it for granted.
Best regards,
Sandra Koh IP Manager / In-House Patent Counsel Optiwave Semiconductor Corp. 4710 Ridgeview Parkway, Suite 300 Santa Clara, CA 95054 P: (408) 555-0194 E: sandra.koh@optiwavesemi.com