[Patentcenter] USPTO timestamp

Tue Nov 7 16:40:11 UTC 2023

In a course I took recently from the USPTO, Kimberly Williams explained that the Examiner or person handling the papers enters a date when the status is changed in the USPTO system as it leaves their function/control to move on to the next function for internal tracking.  The mail date is when it is actually mailed and these dates will likely always be different. We would see the last status date but not the other status dates and the mail date.

Sincerely,

Karen L. Kimble

Attorney
Technology Law, PLLC

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From: Patentcenter <patentcenter-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com> On Behalf Of Andrea R. Jacobson via Patentcenter
Sent: Tuesday, November 7, 2023 9:13 AM
To: patentcenter at oppedahl-lists.com; 'Randall Svihla' <rsvihla at nsiplaw.com>
Cc: Andrea R. Jacobson <arj at mcgarrybair.com>
Subject: Re: [Patentcenter] USPTO timestamp

I believe the status date has been different for quite a while –I know that I have noticed it’s a very different date related to issued patents because it has tripped me when doing intake of transferred files.  On active matters it seems to quite often use the imaging date and not the mailing date. Some example:

A patent issued today shows a status of “Patented Case 10/18/2023” which is the mailing date of the issue notification. 

A non-final OA has a status of “Non Final Action Mailed 11/02/2023” which is the imaging date of the non-final action. 

From: Patentcenter patentcenter-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com <mailto:patentcenter-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com>  On Behalf Of Watt, Rachel S. via Patentcenter
Sent: Monday, November 6, 2023 5:43 PM
To: patentcenter at oppedahl-lists.com <mailto:patentcenter at oppedahl-lists.com> ; 'Randall Svihla' <rsvihla at nsiplaw.com <mailto:rsvihla at nsiplaw.com> >
Cc: Watt, Rachel S. <Rwatt at hodgsonruss.com <mailto:Rwatt at hodgsonruss.com> >
Subject: Re: [Patentcenter] USPTO timestamp

Thanks 😊 

I’ve checked Word and my date and time are set to my time zone. So I don’t know what is going on.

With your issue, unfortunately, I’ve noticed the “status” date has mostly differed from the last action in documents and transactions.

From: Patentcenter <patentcenter-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com <mailto:patentcenter-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com> > On Behalf Of Sandra L Etherton via Patentcenter
Sent: Monday, November 6, 2023 5:22 PM
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Cc: Sandra L Etherton <sandra at ethertonlaw.com <mailto:sandra at ethertonlaw.com> >
Subject: Re: [Patentcenter] USPTO timestamp

External Email - Use Caution 

  _____  

Don’t feel silly. Patent Center is making us question a lot of stuff. Today I looked up a just-issued office action for a pending patent application in Patent Center. The office action was emailed today, Nov 6, 2023, but the “status” says it was mailed Nov 2, 2023. Obviously this affects the due date for the response. And there was zero activity in documents or transactions on Nov2.

However, I checked PAIR and it too showed the same inconsistent status date (once I finally got in after getting the “search limit reached” error message – twice). 

So, has the “status” date always differed from the last action in documents and transactions? I don’t know, but it’s Patent Center that made me wonder.

Sandra

______________________

Sandra L Etherton

Registered U.S. Patent Attorney

ETHERTON LAW GROUP, LLC

tel: (602) 681-3331 | fax:  (602) 681-3339 

email:  <mailto:sandra at ethertonlaw.com> sandra at ethertonlaw.com

www.ethertonlaw.com <http://www.ethertonlaw.com/> 

From: Patentcenter [mailto:patentcenter-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com] On Behalf Of Watt, Rachel S. via Patentcenter
Sent: Monday, November 6, 2023 3:09 PM
To: Randall Svihla <rsvihla at nsiplaw.com <mailto:rsvihla at nsiplaw.com> >; patentcenter at oppedahl-lists.com <mailto:patentcenter at oppedahl-lists.com> 
Cc: Watt, Rachel S. <Rwatt at hodgsonruss.com <mailto:Rwatt at hodgsonruss.com> >
Subject: Re: [Patentcenter] USPTO timestamp

EBC doesn’t know, maybe that’s new. But now I’m wondering if that is my version of Word that inserted the timestamp. I feel a bit silly.

From: Randall Svihla <rsvihla at nsiplaw.com <mailto:rsvihla at nsiplaw.com> > 
Sent: Monday, November 6, 2023 5:03 PM
To: patentcenter at oppedahl-lists.com <mailto:patentcenter at oppedahl-lists.com> 
Cc: Watt, Rachel S. <Rwatt at hodgsonruss.com <mailto:Rwatt at hodgsonruss.com> >
Subject: RE: USPTO timestamp

External Email - Use Caution 

  _____  

Hi, Rachel

Obviously they are using GMT.  Why are they using GMT?  The system they are using to check the DOCX document for errors must be running on GMT.  Maybe it's in the UK or Ireland?  Although I would think foreign export laws would prevent that.  As far as how does it affect the filing date, who knows?  Call the EBC and ask them.

Good luck.

Randall S. Svihla

NSIP Law

Washington, D.C.

From: Patentcenter <patentcenter-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com <mailto:patentcenter-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com> > On Behalf Of Watt, Rachel S. via Patentcenter
Sent: Monday, November 6, 2023 4:48 PM
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Cc: Watt, Rachel S. <Rwatt at hodgsonruss.com <mailto:Rwatt at hodgsonruss.com> >
Subject: [Patentcenter] USPTO timestamp

I’m filing an application in docx format. Looking at the USPTO feedback document, their timestamp on their comments is 5 hours ahead (I’m in EST).

Is this an issue? What if I was filing at 11:00 pm EST?

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