USPTO Systems Status and Availability

Sunday Dec 15, 2019

Updated: Fee Payment Processing/FPNG

Fee Payment Processing/FPNG

The USPTO will perform system maintenance on the Deposit Account payment processing beginning at midnight, Saturday, December 14 and ending at 4 a.m., Monday, December 16 ET.

Due to system maintenance, Deposit Account payment processing across the USPTO storefronts noted below will be unavailable during the maintenance period. Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) payment processing and Credit Card payment processing will remain available during the maintenance window.

  • Electronic Filing System-Web-Contingency (EFS-Web/EFS-Web Contingency)
  • Patent Center
  • Patent Trial and Appeal Board End-to-End (PTAB-E2E)
  • Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS)
  • Trademark Electronic Application System (International)(TEASI)
  • Electronic System for Trademark Trials and Appeals (ESTTA)
  • Electronic Trademark Assignment Search (ETAS)
  • Certified Copy Center (CCC)
  • Office of Enrollment and Discipline Roster (OEDCI)
  • Patent Maintenance Fees Storefront including bulk file submissions

In addition, credit card and EFT fee payment transactions processed during the maintenance period will not be reflected in Financial Manager stored payment statements/fee transaction queries until several hours after the maintenance concludes.

Please submit any deposit account payment using alternative methods, such as the following:

For Patents Customers:

Attaching a fee transmittal form (e.g., PTO/SB/17) with deposit account authorization in EFS-Web.

Facsimile submission of the basic national fee for national stage under 35 U.S.C. 371 is not accepted.

Submissions that require successful online payment, such as ePetitions and Pre-grant publication submissions, will be unavailable during the maintenance period.

If you have any questions, contact the Patent EBC by phone at 866-217-9197 or by email at ebc@uspto.gov.

For PTAB Customers:

Patent Trial and Appeal Board End-to-End (PTAB-E2E) will be available for use (uploading and downloading files and searching) but a petitioner will not be able to pay for their newly created petitions if paying using a Deposit Account.

Please pay for your newly filed petitions when Financial Manager is available.

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 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 at Trials@uspto.gov (link sends e-mail).

For Trademarks 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 Outage Page for information concerning Trademark alternative filing methods.

If you have any specific questions regarding Trademark Electronic Application System (Domestic)/Trademark Electronic Application System (International) (TEAS/TEASi), contact the TEAS Team by email at TEAS@uspto.gov.

All customers with an established EFT account or credit card will still be able to pay the required fees via those accounts. In addition, forms that do not require a fee payment can still be filed.

For TTAB Customers:

If your deadline is today and the document cannot be filed electronically, you must use an alternative filing method.

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  (links send emails).