PALM Maintenance Update
Statement updated at 10 a.m. ET August 19, 2018
The USPTO’s IT team continued to work throughout the night to restore the PALM database. The progress is running slower than expected but we are seeing successes and the effort is taking us in the right direction. Because we do not yet have an ETA on completion for the data restoration, we cannot yet provide you with an ETA on when full service will be restored to the systems applications that rely on PALM. As noted yesterday, we are validating the data integrity for over two terabytes of data in a complex data structure. This is not a fast process and accuracy is essential. This must be completed before we can bring PALM back online. We will provide another update at 4 p.m. ET today or sooner if something significant changes.
We remind you that the systems listed in the bullets below are currently unavailable, however you may at times see them come back online and be accessible to you. Please note that the data you may be able to access in the system is only valid up to Wednesday, August 15 at 12:01 a.m. ET. Services, systems, and activities not impacted by this issue will continue to operate normally, including all those related to Trademarks.
Alternative filing and payment methods are available for your use during this outage. EFS-Web Contingency is available as an option when the primary portal for EFS-Web is unavailable. Given the availability of the alternative filing methods, the USPTO does not plan to extend deadlines. Questions about paper filing fees have been raised and we are examining our options to see how we can address those concerns.
Because the PALM database is down for maintenance, the following systems are currently unavailable:
- Electronic Filing System (EFS-Web)
- Electronic Freedom of Information Act (E-FOIA)
- Electronic Patent Assignment System (ePAS)
- Employee Locator Search
- Global Dossier (GD)
- Office of Enrollment and Discipline Information System (OEDIS)
- Order Entry Management System (OEMS)
- One Portal Dossier (OPD)
- Patent Global Dossier Public Access Dossier (P-GD-PAD)
- Patent Maintenance Fees Storefront
- Private Patent Application Information Retrieval (Private PAIR)
- Public Patent Application Information Retrieval (Public PAIR)
- Patent Review Process System (PRPS)
- Patent Trial and Appeal Board End-to-End (PTAB-E2E)
We are aware of how this system outage impacts those who have patent-related business with the USPTO and we know you have questions on a variety of topics. We posted answers to some questions we know you have or that you may be wondering about the PALM database issue.
Further status updates will be issued on this page (www.uspto.gov/blog/ebiz/) as they become available. At a minimum, you will see updates at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. daily.
Thank you for your patience as we work to restore full service as soon as possible.
Posted at 06:05AM Aug 19, 2018 in Current Status |