PALM Maintenance Update
Statement Update at 11:05 a.m., August 22, 2018
As we informed you previously on this page, our systems are returning to operation this morning following service overnight to optimize their performance. Please keep an eye on the bullets below for status of specific systems. Our team of experts will continue to monitor the systems.
While systems are returned to service following last night’s work, the content available to you in PAIR may not be valid past Wednesday, August 15 at 12:01 a.m. ET. We are working to obtain and provide for you a reliable estimate on when PAIR will operate with current data.
EFS-Web is working this morning, and we encourage applicants to use it going forward. However, alternative filing options remain available, such as EFS-Web Contingency and paper filing should EFS-Web become unavailable. Read more about how to receive and accept filings and payments through alternative means. Given the availability of the alternative filing methods, the USPTO does not plan to extend deadlines. Applicants affected by this outage will have an option to avoid, or receive a refund of, paper filing fees. The director will prescribe a procedure for re-submitting applications electronically to receive a refund of the paper filing fee (or to not incur a fee if not yet paid). Applicants who follow this procedure will maintain their original filing dates for applications filed by paper during the outage. Once the details of this procedure are ready, we will post that information on our website. In the meantime, applicants should continue to file and pay associated fees pursuant to current laws and regulations.
Our Patents employees continue to work. Systems not highlighted below are functioning as normal. We remind you that you may be able to access and use some of the highlighted systems below, but please note that if a system that is noted below is accessible to you, the data in that system may only be valid up to Wednesday, August 15 at 12:01 a.m. ET.
While we continue to complete the accurate restoration of all services, the following systems are not yet fully functional:
- Electronic Freedom of Information Act (E-FOIA)
- Electronic Patent Assignment System (ePAS)
- 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)
- Private Patent Application Information Retrieval (Private PAIR)
- Public Patent Application Information Retrieval (Public PAIR)
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. We will update those questions and answers after this incident is complete.
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 until service is fully restored.
Posted at 07:20AM Aug 22, 2018 in Current Status |