USPTO Systems Status and Availability

Monday Dec 20, 2021

Current Status

Fee Payment Processing Maintenance

The USPTO's Third-Party Credit Card Processing service, Pay.gov, will perform maintenance that impacts USPTO credit/debit card fee payment processing beginning at 10 p.m., Tuesday, December 21 and ending at 12:01 am, Wednesday,  December 22 ET.

During the maintenance period, the following USPTO storefronts will be unable to accept credit/debit card payments:

  • Electronic Filing System-Web (EFS-Web)
  • Electronic Filing System-Web Contingency (EFS-Web Contingency)
  • Patent Center
  • Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTABE2E)
  • Patent Maintenance Fees Storefront (FPNG) 
  • Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS)
  • Trademark Electronic Application System International (TEASI)
  • Electronic System for Trademark Trials and Appeals (ESTTA)
  • Electronic Trademark Assignment Search (ETAS)
  • Office of Enrollment and Discipline Customer Interface (OEDCI)
  • Certified Copy Center (CCC)


Customers with an already established USPTO Deposit Account or Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) Account may still pay using one of these payment methods during this maintenance window.

If you are unable to wait until the maintenance has concluded to pay a fee, the following alternative options are available:

Patent Customers: For more information about filing documents during an outage, please visit: https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/filing-online/filing-documents-during-outage. If you have questions, please contact the Patent Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 1-866-217-9197, Monday through Friday from 6 a.m., to midnight ET.

PTAB Customers: If your deadline is today for the petition filing and/or other associated documents to a pending America Invents Act (AIA) case and you cannot file electronically via the Patent Trial and Appeal Board End-to-End (PTAB-E2E) System, you may use an alternative filing method. Please visit the PTAB-E2E FAQ page: https://www.uspto.gov/patents/ptab/ptab-e2e-frequently-asked-questions and see A2 for information concerning your America Invents Act (AIA) petition filing and/or document filing using PTAB-E2E alternative filing methods. If you have any questions, contact PTAB during normal business hours of 8:30 a.m., to 5 p.m., ET by telephone at 571-272-7822 or email at Trials@uspto.gov.

Trademark Customers: If you have a filing due today and the document cannot be filed via TEAS, fax your document with the required petition cover sheet to the Petitions Office at 571-273-8950 using the procedures on the filing documents during an outage webpage to ensure that the document is timely received by the USPTO.  If you have any questions, contact the TEAS Team by email at TEAS@uspto.gov.

TTAB Customers: Please visit the TTAB Outage Page: https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/ttab/filing-ttab-documents-during-outage  for information concerning Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) alternative filing methods. If you have any questions, contact the TTAB Assistance Center during normal business hours by telephone at 571-272-8500 or email TTABInfo@uspto.gov.