USPTO Systems Maintenance on December 5th

Due to maintenance required on USPTO systems, access to Public PAIR, Private PAIR, EFS-Web and EFS-Web Contingency will be unavailable beginning 12:01 a.m. and ending at 11:59 p.m. Saturday, December 5th ET.

During this outage period, applicants may file new patent applications, new international design 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. Applicants may file other documents or fee payments by:

  1. facsimile transmission to the USPTO Central Facsimile (571) 273-8300,
  2. first class mail with a certificate of mailing in accordance with 37 CFR 1.8, or
  3. Priority Mail Express® from the USPS in accordance with 37 CFR 1.10

Please note that filing of a new application under 35 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). Also please note that an international design application filed in paper may be subject to additional WIPO publication fees (see http://www.wipo.int/hague/en/fees/sched.htm).

New patent applications, new international design applications, copies of the international (PCT) 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, new international design 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 AM5:00 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.

Applicants are strongly advised to transmit their electronic filings prior to the outage period to ensure that the submissions are correctly completed.

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