EFS-Web Announcements Archive 2019

Advisory (16JUL2019): Verified USPTO.gov account required for EFS-Web and Private PAIR

Practitioners and independent inventors need a verified USPTO.gov account to access EFS-Web for registered eFilers and Private PAIR. Support staff working on behalf of a practitioner needs to be sponsored to obtain access.

New customers, or customers who did not migrate by the migration deadline, can obtain a verified USPTO.gov account using the new verification process. See the Authentication Change webpage for more information.

If you have questions, please contact the Patent Electronic Business Center (EBC) at ebc@uspto.gov or 866-217-9197.

Advisory (2JUL2019): PKI termination for EFS-Web and Private PAIR

PKI authentication for EFS-Web and Private PAIR is permanently disabled. Check the USPTO systems status and availability page for more information and updates.

Practitioners and independent inventors need a verified USPTO.gov account to access EFS-Web for registered eFilers and Private PAIR. Support staff working on behalf of a practitioner needs to be sponsored to obtain access.

The deadline for migration from a PKI certificate to a USPTO.gov account is July 16. Please ensure that you migrated the proper PKI to the correct USPTO.gov account, or reverse incorrectly migrated accounts prior to July 16. New customers, or customers who do not migrate by the migration deadline, can obtain a verified USPTO.gov account using the new verification process. For more information on migrations and sponsorships, please visit the authentication change webpage for guidance.

If you do not have a verified USPTO.gov account and need to urgently file a new patent application, you can use EFS-Web for unregistered eFilers or EFS-Web contingency. Additionally, if you need to file a follow-on submission and do not have a verified USPTO.gov account, use an alternative filing method.

If you have questions or need to reverse an incorrectly migrated account, contact the Patent Electronic Business Center (EBC) at ebc@uspto.gov or 866-217-9197.

Advisory (3JUN2019): PKI Outage for EFS-Web and Private PAIR

PKI authentication for EFS-Web and Private PAIR will be unavailable starting on Wednesday, June 5 at 12:01 AM ET, until further notice. Please see the USPTO Systems Status and Availability page for more information and updates.

Please use your verified USPTO.gov account to access EFS-Web for Registered eFilers and Private PAIR. 

If you need to file a new patent application and do not have a verified USPTO.gov account, please use EFS-Web for Unregistered eFilers or EFS-Web Contingency. If you need to file a follow-on submission and do not have a verified USPTO.gov account, please use an alternative filing method.

Migration will be available during this outage. Please ensure that you migrated the proper PKI to the correct USPTO.gov account. If you have not migrated or need to sponsor support staff, please visit the Authentication Change website for guidance.

If you have questions or need to reverse an incorrectly migrated account, please contact the Patent Electronic Business Center (EBC) at ebc@uspto.gov or 866-217-9197.

Advisory (28MAY2019): PKI Outage for EFS-Web and Private PAIR

PKI Outage for EFS-Web and Private PAIR

PKI authentication for EFS-Web and Private PAIR will be unavailable starting 12:01 a.m., Thursday, May 30th, and ending at 11:59 p.m., Friday, May 31st ET. Additional outages will be scheduled. Please see the USPTO Systems Status and Availability page for more information.

During the PKI outage period, users will be unable to use PKI certificates to authenticate. This PKI outage does not affect users accessing EFS-Web and Private PAIR with a verified USPTO.gov account. Authentication via verified USPTO.gov accounts to access EFS-Web and Private PAIR will be available. Please ensure that you migrated the proper PKI to the correct USPTO.gov account prior to the outage. If you have not migrated or need to sponsor support staff, please visit the Authentication Change website for guidance.

If you need to file a new application during this outage, please access EFS-Web with your verified USPTO.gov account, use EFS-Web for Unregistered eFilers, or use EFS-Web Contingency.  If you need to file a follow-on submission and do not have a verified USPTO.gov account, please use an alternative filing method.

If you have questions or need to reverse an incorrectly migrated account, please contact the Patent Electronic Business Center (EBC) at ebc@uspto.gov or 866-217-9197.

 

Advisory (20MAY2019): PKI Outage for EFS-Web and Private PAIR

The USPTO will have a series of upcoming outages to begin the phased termination of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) certificates for Electronic Filing System-Web (EFS-Web) and Private Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR). This will not affect users accessing EFS-Web and Private PAIR with a verified USPTO.gov account.

The first PKI outage will be on May 22, starting at 12:01 AM and ending at 11:59 PM (ET). Additional outages will be scheduled. Please see the USPTO Systems Status and Availability page for more information.

During the PKI outage period, users will be unable to use PKI certificates to authenticate and will be unable to access EFS-Web for Unregistered eFilers. However, authentication via verified USPTO.gov accounts to access EFS-Web and Private PAIR will be available. Please ensure that you migrated the proper PKI to the correct USPTO.gov account prior to the outage. If you have not migrated or need to sponsor support staff, please visit the Authentication Change website for guidance.

If you need to file a new application during this outage, please access EFS-Web with your verified USPTO.gov account or use EFS-Web Contingency.  If you need to file a follow-on submission and do not have a verified USPTO.gov account, please use an alternative filing method.

If you have questions or need to reverse an incorrectly migrated account, please contact the Patent Electronic Business Center (EBC) at ebc@uspto.gov or 866-217-9197.

Advisory (15MAY2019): USPTO System Maintenance

EFS-Web, Private PAIR, and Public PAIR will be unavailable due to maintenance beginning at 11:59 p.m., Friday, May 24th, and ending at 5:00 p.m., Monday, May 27th ET.  During the maintenance period, applicants may file new applications, except for National Stage applications under 35 U.S.C. 371, via EFS-Web Contingency.

If you need to file a National Stage application under 35 U.S.C. 371 or a follow-on submission to an existing application during the maintenance period, please use an alternative filing method. For more information about other systems affected by the maintenance outage, please visit USPTO Systems Status and Availability.

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

Advisory (3MAY2019): EFS-Web issue resolved

The EFS-Web problem with the initial web-based application data sheet (ADS) and corrected web-based ADS reported on March 27, 2019 has been resolved.  The defect resulted in the domestic benefit and national stage information section of the ADS not displaying on the generated PDF document as it was entered on the screen in EFS-Web. Specifically, the order of the domestic benefit claims was not being properly maintained on the generated PDF document. In addition, for corrected web-based ADS, the markings (strikethrough and underlining) on the generated PDF document did not properly reflect the changes that were made. This may have resulted in the desired benefit claims not being recognized by the USPTO on the filing receipt.

 If you are filing a new application, you may now use the web-based ADS in EFS-Web or the ADS Fillable Form (PTO/AIA/14). If you need to update or correct any application data in an existing application, you may now use the corrected web-based ADS in EFS-Web. Please review the filing receipts for applications in which you submitted an Initial Web-based ADS or a Corrected Web-based ADS via EFS-Web between October 2018 and April 2019 to verify that the information is accurate and has been properly processed. As a recommended best practice, before submitting any initial Web-based ADS or Corrected Web-based ADS, applicants should review the PDF document to make sure it includes the correct information. Applicants should not submit any Web-based ADS or Corrected Web-based ADS if the information is not correctly displayed on the PDF document.

For questions concerning EFS-Web, please contact the Patent EBC Monday through Friday, from 6 a.m. to midnight ET at ebc@uspto.gov or 866-217-9197.

Advisory (25MAR2019): EFS-Web issue concerning the order of domestic benefit/national stage information on the initial web-based ADS and Corrected web-based ADS

The USPTO has determined that there is a system defect in the Initial Web-based ADS and the Corrected Web-based ADS. This defect began in approximately October 2018, and it results in the domestic benefit/national stage information section of the ADS not being displayed on the generated PDF document in the same manner as this information was entered on the screen in EFS-Web. Specifically, the order of the domestic benefit claims is not being properly maintained on the generated PDF document. In addition, for a Corrected Web-based ADS, the markings (strikethrough and underlining) on the generated PDF document may not properly reflect the changes that were made. This may result in the desired benefit claims not being recognized by the USPTO on the filing receipt.

If you are filing a new application that contains more than one domestic benefit claim (including national stage information), please use the ADS Fillable Form (PTO/AIA/14) in lieu of the web-based ADS in EFS-Web. You may continue to use the Web-based ADS if only one or no domestic benefit claims will be listed in the domestic benefit/national stage information section.

If you need to update or correct any application data in an existing application, please do not use the corrected web-based ADS in EFS-Web if your application contains more than one domestic benefit claim (including national stage information) of record. In addition, please do not use the corrected web-based ADS in EFS-Web if you are adding domestic benefit/national stage information that will result in your application having more than one domestic benefit claim (including national stage information). Please create your own corrected ADS document with the proper markings (strike-through for deletions and underlining for insertions) and upload it in an EFS-Web follow-on submission.

Please review the filing receipts for applications in which you submitted an Initial Web-based ADS or a Corrected Web-based ADS via EFS-Web since October 2018 to verify that the information is accurate and has been properly processed. In addition, before submitting any initial Web-based ADS or Corrected Web-based ADS, applicants should review the PDF document to make sure it includes the correct information. Applicants should not submit any Web-based ADS or Corrected Web-based ADS if the information is not correctly displayed on the PDF document.

We are working to resolve the issue. For updates regarding this issue, please visit EFS-Web announcements.

For any questions concerning EFS-Web, please contact the Patent EBC Monday - Friday, from 6:00 a.m. to 12 Midnight Eastern Time, by email ebc@uspto.gov or telephone 866-217-9197.

Advisory (15FEB2019): PKI Authentication Update

Important update: The deadlines related to authentication change and migration for EFS-Web and Private PAIR are being extended due to technical issues. We will announce the new deadlines when they are determined. Until then, you can still authenticate using either USPTO.gov accounts or PKI certificate

If you have not done so, please create your USPTO.gov account, ensure it is opted in to two-step authentication, and use the Migration Tool to link your existing PKI certificate to your USPTO.gov account. Registered practitioners should use the Sponsorship Tool to sponsor their support staff to work on their behalf.

Advisory (5FEB2019): PKI Sign-In Discontinued as of Feb 15

As of Feb 15, EFS-Web and Private PAIR users will no longer be able to authenticate using PKI certificates. There is now a simpler and safer login method. Go to your USPTO.gov account (or create one) and opt in to two-step authentication. Next, use the Migration Tool (will no longer available as of March 1) to link your existing PKI certificate to your USPTO.gov account. Registered practitioners should use the Sponsorship Tool to sponsor their support staff to work on their behalf.

New users, or users who did not migrate prior to March 1, must obtain a verified USPTO.gov account to access EFS-Web and PAIR using the new verification process, which requires a notarized Patent Electronic System Verification Form. Prior to March 1, you can recover your PKI using your self-recovery codes. Otherwise, use the new verification process.

We invite you to register for an upcoming information session related to the new verification process, along with the other changes to authentication into EFS-Web and Private PAIR.

Use these new URLs for EFS-Web and Private PAIR when signing in with your USPTO.gov account. You will need to update any bookmarks you may have:

Advisory (22JAN2019): EFS-Web and Private PAIR authentication change: New verification process

Starting Jan 18, new users can obtain a verified USPTO.gov account to access EFS-Web and PAIR using the new verification process. Certificate Action Forms for new PKIs and EBC-assisted PKI recoveries postmarked prior to Jan 28, will be processed. Users will need to migrate new PKIs before March 1. If you have your self-recovery codes and need to recover your PKI, please do so prior to March 1. Otherwise, use the new verification process.

As of Feb 15, EFS-Web and Private PAIR users will no longer be able to authenticate using PKI certificates. There is now a simpler and safer login method. Go to your USPTO.gov account (or create one) and opt in to two-step authentication. Next, use the Migration Tool (no longer available as of March 1) to link your existing PKI certificate to your USPTO.gov account. Registered practitioners should use the Sponsorship Tool to sponsor their support staff to work on their behalf.

Use these new URLs for EFS-Web and Private PAIR when signing in with your USPTO.gov account. You will need to update any bookmarks you may have:

share Share this page     print Print this page
Additional information about this page