USPTO Systems Status and Availability

Thursday Jan 07, 2021

Planned Events

Bulk Data Storage System (BDSS) Maintenance

The USPTO will perform maintenance on the Bulk Data Storage System (BDSS) beginning at 10 a.m., Friday, Jan. 8 and ending at 3 p.m., Friday, Jan. 8 ET.

The entire BDSS system will be unavailable during the maintenance period.

Publication Site for Issued and Published Sequences (PSIPS) Maintenance

The USPTO will perform maintenance affecting Publication Site for Issued and Published Sequences (PSIPS) beginning at 10 p.m., Friday, January 8 and ending at 5 a.m., Saturday, January 9 ET. 

The application will not be available during the maintenance period.

Vendor Portal Maintenance

The USPTO will perform system maintenance affecting the Vendor Portal beginning at 12:01 a.m., Saturday, January 9 and ending at 6:30 a.m., Saturday, January 9 ET.

The Vendor Portal will be available during the maintenance period, but users will not be able to submit and process invoices and eDeliverables.

Fee Processing Maintenance

The USPTO will perform system maintenance on fee payment processing beginning at 12 a.m., Saturday, January 9 and ending at 6:30 a.m., Saturday, January 9 ET.

Payment processing for the following USPTO storefronts will be unavailable during the deployment window:

  • Electronic Filing System (EFS-Web) and EFS-Web Contingency Patent Center
  • Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS)
  • Trademark Electronic Application System international (TEASi)
  • Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB-E2E)
  • Electronic System for Trademark Trials and Appeals (ESTTA)
  • Electronic Trademark Assignment System (ETAS)
  • Patent Maintenance Fees Storefront (FPNG)
  • Certified Copy Center (CCC)
  • Office of Enrollment and Discipline-Customer Interface (OED-CI)

For Patent Customers:

The following submissions will be unavailable during the maintenance period: ePetitions, eTerminal Disclaimer, Web 85b, PG-Pub requests, and other filing types which require successful payment at time of submission.

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, or email ebc@uspto.gov.

For more information about filing documents and paying fees during an outage, please visit: https://www.uspto.gov/patents-application-process/filing-online/filing-documents-during-outage.

For 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-application-process/patent-trial-and-appeal-board/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.

For Trademark Customers:

Filing deadlines that fall on a Saturday extend the filing deadline to the next business day.

Please try filing again after the maintenance ends. If you have any questions, contact the TEAS Team by email at TEAS@uspto.gov.

For TTAB Customers:

Please visit the TTAB Outage Page: https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks-application-process/appealing-trademark-decisions/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.

90-Day Database Password Change Maintenance

The USPTO will perform maintenance affecting several systems beginning at 12:01 a.m., Saturday, January 9 and ending at 8 a.m., Saturday, January 9 ET.

The following systems and systems that interface with these systems will be unavailable during the maintenance period:

  • Electronic Freedom of Information Act (eFOIA)
  • Electronic Filing System Web (EFS-Web & EFS-Web Contingency)
  • Office of Enrollment and Discipline Roster of Patent Practitioner Search, Registered Practitioner Portal, and Exam Applicant Portal (OEDCI)
  • Patent Center and Sponsorship tool
  • Patent Trial and Appeal Board End-to-End System (PTAB-E2E)
  • Private Patent Application Information Retrieval (Private PAIR)
  • Public Patent Application Information Retrieval (Public PAIR)
  • Publication Site for Issued and Published Sequences (PSIPS)
  • Financial Manager and Patent Maintenance Fees Storefront
  • Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS)
  • Trademark Electronic Application System International (TEASi)
  • Trademark Official Gazette (TMOG)
  • Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS)

The maintenance will also cause interruptions to payment processing for users of the Electronic Trademark Assignment Search (ETAS), the Order Entry Management System (OEMS), the Electronic System for Trademark Trials and Appeals (ESTTA), and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board End to End (PTAB-E2E).

For Patent Customers:

For more information about filing documents during an outage, please visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents-application-process/filing-online/filing-documents-during-outage.

If you have questions, please contact the EBC (Patent Electronic Business Center) at 1-866-217-9197, Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to midnight ET, or email ebc@uspto.gov.

For PTAB Customers:

If your deadline is today for the petition filing and/or other associated documents to a pending AIA case and you cannot file electronically via the Patent Trial and Appeal Board End-to-End System (PTAB-E2E), you may use an alternative filing method. Please visit the PTAB-E2E FAQ page (https://www.uspto.gov/patents-application-process/patent-trial-and-appeal-board/ptab-e2e-frequently-asked-questions) and see A2 for information concerning your 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 atTrials@uspto.gov(link sends e-mail).

For Trademark Customers:

If your deadline is today and the document requiring a fee payment cannot be filed electronically, you must use an alternative method of filing. Please visit the Trademark Outage Page for information concerning Trademark alternative filing methods.

If you have any questions, contact the TEAS Team by email TEAS@uspto.gov(link sends e-mail).

For TTAB Customers:

If your deadline is today and the document cannot be filed electronically, you must use an alternative method of filing. Please visit the TTAB Outage Page 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(link sends e-mail)

Reference Document Management Service Maintenance

The USPTO will perform maintenance impacting several manuals beginning at 12:01 a.m., Saturday, January 9 and ending at 5:30 a.m., Saturday, January 9 ET.

During the maintenance period the following manuals will be unavailable:

     • Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (eMPEP)
     • Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (TMEP)
     • Trademark Federal Statutes and Rules (TFSR)
     • Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Manual of Procedure (TBMP)

PTAB Center and PTAB-E2E Maintenance

​The USPTO will perform maintenance on the Patent Trial and Appeal Board Center (PTAB Center) and Patent Trial and Appeal Board End-to-End (PTAB-E2E) systems beginning at 12:01 a.m., Sunday, January, 10 and ending at 5.30 a.m., Sunday, January 10  ET.

These systems will be not be available during the maintenance period.

Users should save all work and log off before the maintenance period begins.