USPTO Systems Status and Availability

Payment Processing, PRPS, OEMS, and Systems Maintenances, and MyUSPTO Password Resets

Payment Processing Maintenance

The USPTO will conduct maintenance affecting the payment processing system during the following timeframe:

• Beginning at 12:01 a.m. and ending at 5:30 a.m., Thursday, July 21 ET.
• Beginning at 12:01 a.m. and ending at 5:30 a.m., Friday, July 22 ET.
• Beginning at 12:01 a.m. and ending at 5:30 a.m., Monday, July 25 ET.
• Beginning at 12:01 a.m. and ending at 5:30 a.m., Tuesday, July 26 ET.
• Beginning at 12:01 a.m. and ending at 5:30 a.m., Wednesday, July 27 ET.

The maintenance may cause intermittent interruption to Financial Manager and Patent Maintenance Fee Storefront. The maintenance may also cause intermittent interruption to payment processing for users of the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS), Trademark Electronic Application System International (TEASi), Electronic Trademark Assignment Search (ETAS), the Order Entry Management System (OEMS), the Electronic System for Trademark Trials and Appeals (ESTTA), the Patent Electronic Filing System (EFS-Web) and the Patent Trial and Appeal End to End (PTAB E2E).

• Users attempting to pay for a trademark order via TEAS or TEASi should save their work and not try to pay during the maintenance timeframe.
• Users processing an order via OEMS should not try to pay for an order during the maintenance timeframe.
• Users processing a trademark assignment action via ETAS should not try to pay for an order during the maintenance timeframe.
• Users processing a TTAB submission online via ESTTA should not try to pay during the maintenance timeframe.  If your deadline is today and a document requiring a fee payment cannot be filed electronically prior to midnight, you must submit your filing by mail. This outage does not impact ESTTA forms that do not require a filing fee. Oppositions or extensions of time to oppose § 66(a) applications must be filed electronically.

For Patents Customers:

EFS-Web applicants may file new applications and follow-on submissions except for ePetitions, eTerminal Disclaimers, Web 85b, and other submissions which require payment at time of submission.

Please submit payment using an alternative payment method, such as:

• by attaching a fee transmittal form (e.g., PTO/SB/17) with deposit account authorization in EFS-Web.
• by faxing in a credit card authorization form PTO-2038 to the USPTO Central Fax 571-273-8300.
• or by sending in a credit card authorization form PTO-2038 through Priority Mail Express(formerly Express Mail) from the United States Postal Services (USPS) in accordance with 37 CFR 1.10.

Facsimile submission of the basic national fee for national stage under 35 U.S.C. 371 is not accepted. Submissions that require successful online payment, such as ePetitions and Pre-grant publication submissions, will be unavailable during the maintenance period.

If you have any questions, contact the EBC by phone at 866-217-9197 or be email at ebc@uspto.gov.

PRPS Maintenance

The USPTO will perform maintenance on the Patent Review Processing System (PRPS) beginning at 9 p.m. and ending at 11 p.m., Wednesday, July 27 ET.

Customers handling the DER Trial Types during this maintenance window will not have access to PRPS.

PTAB E2E will remain available to everyone else.

System Maintenance

The USPTO will perform maintenance affecting several systems beginning at 12:01 a.m. and ending at 11:59 p.m., Saturday, July 30 ET.

Outage duration: 24 hours

The following systems will be unavailable during the maintenance:

• Electronic Filing System-Web (EFS-Web)
• Electronic Filing System-Web Contingency (EFS-Web Contingency)
• Adjudicated Case Tracking System (ACTS)
• Application Images on the Web (AIW)
• Assignments on the Web (AOTW)
• Application Full Text on the Web (AppFT)  
• Electronic Freedom of Information Act (EFOIA)
• Electronic Patents Assignment System (EPAS) 
• Electronic Trademark Assignment System (ETAS)
• MyUSPTO.gov
• Order Entry Management System (OEMS)
• Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR)
• Patent Full Text  Search (PatFT)
• Trademark Design Search Code Manual (TDSCM)
• Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS)
• Trademark Electronic Application System  (International) (TEASi)
• Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (TMEP)
• Trademark Electronic Official Gazette (TMOG)
• Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS)
•  Trademark Identification Manual (TIDM)
• Trademark Status and Document Retrieval (TSDR)
• Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Manual of Procedure (TBMP)
• Trademark Trials and Appeals and Appeal Board Viewing System (TTABVUE)
• USPTO Contact Center
• Financial Manager
• Patent Images on the Web (PIW)
• Patent Maintenance Fees Storefront
• USPTO.gov Accounts
• Revenue Accounting and Management System (RAM)

The maintenance will also cause interruptions to users of the Electronic System for Trademark Trials and Appeals (ESTTA) and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board End to End (PTAB E2E).

EFS-Web Customers

During the maintenance period, applicants may file new patent applications, new international design applications and documents and fees for national stage entry under 35 U.S.C. 371 via Priority Mail Express® from the United States Postal Service (USPS) in accordance with 37 CFR 1.10. Applicants may file other documents or fee payments by:

1. First class mail with a certificate of mailing in accordance with 37 CFR 1.8, or
2. Priority Mail Express ® from UPS in accordance with 37 CFR 1.10.

Please note that filing of a new international (PCT) application or a new application under 35 USC 111(a), except reissue, design or plant applications, other than by the Office’s electronic filing system requires payment of the non-electronic filing fee (37 CFR 1.16(t) and 1.445(a)(1)(ii)) in addition to the other required fees. The non-electronic filing fee is $400 ($200 for small and micro entities). Also please note that an international design application filed in paper may be subject to additional WIPO publication fees.  

New patent applications, new international design applications, copies of the international (PCT) application and basic national fee necessary to enter the national stage under 35 U.S.C. 371, and documents that are required to establish the filing date of an application (e.g., a missing drawing figure or page of the specification) cannot be submitted by facsimile transmission, and certificate of mailing procedures under 37 CFR 1.8 do not apply to these documents. Patent correspondence, including new patent applications, new international design applications, and documents or fee payments, cannot be submitted via email.

If you have any questions regarding alternative filing methods, please contact the USPTO Inventor’s Assistance Center during business hours (Mon.-Fri., 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. ET) at 1-800-786-9199. Information regarding filing by first class mail with a certificate of mailing or by Priority Mail Express can also be found in the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP), Sections 512 and 513. Applicants are strongly advised to transmit their electronic filings prior to the outage period to ensure that the submissions are correctly completed.

If you have questions, please contact the EBC at 1-866-217-9197 or ebc@uspto.gov.

TEAS Applicants

Please be advised that when a filing deadline that falls on Saturday or Sunday, the filing may be made on Monday. Visit 37 C.F.R. §2.196 for more information. 

For additional information on filing during system outages, see the Trademark alternative filing methods webpage. If you have any questions regarding alternative filing methods for TEAS/TEASi, please contact TEAS@uspto.gov.

TTAB Customers

If your deadline is today and a document requiring a fee payment cannot be filed electronically prior to midnight, you must submit your filing by mail. This outage does not impact ESTTA forms that do not require a filing fee. Oppositions or extensions of time to oppose § 66(a) applications must be filed electronically.

My USPTO Password Resets

The USPTO extended the MyUSPTO password retention policy.

If you created your uspto.gov account password before June 14, 2016, you will be asked to reset your password 60 days later. Once you reset your password, you will not be asked to again for 180 days.

Passwords created on or after June 14, 2016, will expire after 180 days.

Posted at 11:57AM Jul 25, 2016 in Planned Events  |