Power Outage Update
Statement updated at 4:00 PM ET December 27, 2015 to include operational status for December 28.
A major power outage at USPTO headquarters occurred Tuesday, December 22, resulting in damaged equipment that shutdown our IT systems. This includes our filing, searching and payment systems used by customers and examiners across the country.
Since the incident occurred, teams including USPTO employees, contractors, and third party service providers have been working around the clock to diligently repair damaged equipment and restore power. Systems are slowly being returned to service today with a goal of bringing all systems online and operational Monday morning, December 28.
Due to the extent of the damage to the systems that provide power to the USPTO’s data center, we know that work will continue for the next several days. Therefore, in order to keep systems protected and prevent damage, it is possible that some or all systems may need to be taken offline again.
We understand how critical these systems are for our customers, and our teams will continue to work around the clock to fully restore them as quickly as possible. Based upon the results and the stability of our operations, we will keep deadline flexibility in mind and will closely monitor operations and evaluate whether any additional “holiday notices” similar to the one issued last week covering December 22 to 24 are needed.
Posted at 09:12AM Dec 28, 2015 in Current Status |