Current Events
USPTO Contact Center Mailboxes Outage
The mailboxes utilized by all USPTO Contact Centers are currently unavailable.
The following contact centers are impacted:
- Document Services Division
- Electronic Business Center
- Office of Human Resources
- Patent Electronic Business Center
- USPTO Contact Center
- Trademark Assistance Center
- OCIO Service Desk
Support groups are investigating this situation. Any correspondence sent to the mailboxes will have a delayed response. An update will be sent out as soon as the mailboxes become available.
Resolved Credit/Debit Card Outage
The issue we were experiencing has been resolved, and credit card payment functionality is once again available. If you continue to experience issues with credit card payments being accepted, please contact feeshelp@uspto.gov
Network Issues Affecting Inbound and Outbound Phone Calls
The USPTO is currently experiencing network issues affecting inbound and outbound calls. Calls may be disconnected from the phone system. The USPTO technical teams are working to resolve the issue.
EFS-Web Acknowledgement Receipt delays affecting some filers
Recently there have been Acknowledgement Receipt delays for some filers. If you did not receive an Acknowledgement Receipt after payment of fees, please follow the steps below to confirm that EFS-Web has received your submission and payment: .
-
Registered users can access EFS-Web My Workplace > Last 40 Acknowledgement Receipts which shows the Application Number, Receipt Date, Title of Invention, and other pertinent information for your last 40 applications and follow-on submissions. If the Acknowledgement Receipt was generated, you can select "View" to display it. If the Acknowledgement Receipt is not ready, the Receipt column will display "In Progress".
-
EFS-Web received your submission if you see it listed under Last 40 Acknowledgement Receipts, even if the status is "In Progress”. Please do not file your submission again while waiting for EFS-Web to generate the Acknowledgement Receipt, because duplicate submissions may result in processing delays and non-refundable fees. Generation of the acknowledgement receipt could take up to 5 business days.
-
Please confirm payment status before submitting payment again. Filers who paid using a stored payment method established in Financial Manager can access it to confirm whether payments were successfully processed. You can confirm credit/debit card transactions via the credit card or bank’s website.
-
For ePetition and eTerminal Disclaimers, if you did not receive a grant letter or approval letter at the time of filing, please try to file your submission again at a later time. When re-submitting, you can certify that fees were previously paid for certain fees. If this option is not available, you will be required to pay again and request a refund for the payments that accompanied the failed ePetition/eTerminal Disclaimer submission.
For assistance with EFS-Web, please contact the Patent Electronic Business Center (EBC) at ebc@uspto.gov or 866-217-9197 from 6 a.m. to 12 Midnight Eastern Time, Monday
Posted at 08:08AM Apr 27, 2020 in Current Status |