Work-around for character limit on "applicant" field in Terminal Disclaimers
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AppColl can generate a Terminal Disclaimer (TD) from within a matter detail page with the "Create USPTO Forms" button, such as using an AIA/25, 26, or 63 form. However, the AIA/25 form has a 40-character limit in the "applicant" field. The limit in the AIA/26 form is 45 characters. In the AIA/63 form, there does not appear to be a character limit, in that the form field is a multi-line field, and the character size keeps shrinking, if you continue typing text.
If the applicant name stored in AppColl exceeds the 40- or 45-character limit when generating an AIA/25 or AIA/26 TD, characters beyond the limit are truncated. This will very likely cause the TD to be disapproved, because the applicant's name on the TD will not exactly match the applicant's name on an earlier-filed Application Data Sheet. (My TD was disapproved today.)
I spoke with a USPTO representative in the OPLC. She advised entering something like, "See below <asterisk>" in the applicant field, and then adding a text box below "WARNING: Information on this form may become public..." that includes the applicant, for example, "* Acme Cartoon Props, Inc."
I suggest that, when AppColl generates a TD, if the applicant is longer than 40 characters, put "(See below *)" in the applicant field, and add a text field below the WARNING with the full applicant name. If this is not possible, I strongly suggest AppColl display an error message, to prevent a user filing a TD that is going to be DOA.
-George
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Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We will pass this on to engineering for an update.
