Power Outage
A major power outage at USPTO headquarters occurred last night resulting in damaged equipment that required the subsequent shutdown of many of our online and IT systems. This includes our filing, searching, and payment systems, as well as the systems our examiners across the country use. We are working diligently to assess the operational impact on all our systems and to determine how soon they can be safely brought back into service. Status updates will be issued on this page as they become available, as well as on our Facebook (www.facebook.com/uspto.gov) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/uspto)accounts.
Thank you for your patience as we work to restore full service as soon as possible.
Trademarks
TEAS and TEASi are currently not available. If your submission is time sensitive or If you have a filing due today and the document cannot be filed via TEAS, you must use an alternative method of filing to ensure that the document is timely received by the USPTO.
Patents
Patent applicants may file new patent applications and documents and fees for national stage entry under 35 U.S.C. 371 via Priority Mail Express® from the United States Postal Service (USPS) in accordance with 37 CFR 1.10. Patent applicants may file other documents or fee payments by:
- first class mail with a certificate of mailing in accordance with 37 CFR 1.8 or
- Priority Mail Express® from the USPS in accordance with 37 CFR 1.10
Please note that filing of a new application under 37 USC 111(a), except reissue, design or plant applications, via Priority Mail Express® requires payment of the non-electronic filing fee (37 CFR 1.16(t)) in addition to the other required fees. The non-electronic filing fee is $400 ($200 for small and micro entities).
New patent applications, copies of the international application and basic national fee necessary to enter the national stage under 35 U.S.C. 371, and documents that are required to establish the filing date of an application (e.g., a missing drawing figure or page of the specification) cannot be submitted by facsimile transmission, and certificate of mailing procedures under 37 CFR 1.8 do not apply to these documents. Patent correspondence, including new patent applications and documents or fee payments, cannot be submitted via e-mail. Please contact the USPTO Inventor’s Assistance Center during business hours (Mon-Fri, 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM ET) at 1-800-786-9199 if you have any questions regarding alternative filing methods. Information regarding filing by first class mail with a certificate of mailing or by “Priority Mail Express” can also be found in the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP), Sections 512 and 513, available on the USPTO Web site at: http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/index.html
Posted at 05:52AM Dec 23, 2015 in Current Status |