[Patentcenter] Cannot access saved submissions on Workbench on PatentCenter

Wed Nov 15 17:44:35 UTC 2023

Re the different page size, yes, for some bizarre region, the autogrant notice for e-Petitions is A4 paper size.  Why in the world would the USPTO generate a paper in A4 paper size?  Do they have developers working in Europe or something?

From: Patentcenter <patentcenter-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com> On Behalf Of Timothy Snowden via Patentcenter
Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2023 12:41 PM
To: Gerry Peters <gerrypeters at jttpatent.com>; patentcenter at oppedahl-lists.com
Cc: Timothy Snowden <timothy at thompsonpatentlaw.com>
Subject: Re: [Patentcenter] Cannot access saved submissions on Workbench on PatentCenter

As a follow-up:

1) I was able to re-access the system and continue in ~10 minutes (this time -- I've had the same error persist longer when retrieving documents before for applications we're actively prosecuting).
2) I then filed an e-Petition, paid, and recieved a "merge receipt" (document receipt, payment receipt, and grant of petition all presented as a single document).
    - I "SAVE AS" the merge receipt successfully ... opened it up ... and the document and payment receipts were there, but the grant of petition was omitted (the last page or 2 of the document).
    - I retried several times (save as and print buttons) -- it consistently omitted the third document (which appeared to have a different page size) that showed the petition granted
    - I finally had to screenshot (I used Fireshot) the confirmation page to capture the grant of petition.
I'm assuming that the grant of petition would eventually show up in patentcenter, but I almost lost any confirmation I had that the petition was granted if I hadn't just opened the save receipt and double-checked before my browser lost the confirmation screen (I had already closed it down after saving the PDF, but was able to restore the tab).

I may be able to put together sanitized screenshots, but unfortunately there is no way I'm able to scrounge time to write it up right now.

On 11/14/2023 8:53 PM, Gerry Peters wrote:

Timothy Snowden <timothy at thompsonpatentlaw.com><mailto:timothy at thompsonpatentlaw.com> writes:

This is a systemic error in which an error "Search

limit reached" is given at random times, at random intervals, on

random parts of PatentCenter, and to random people. Always, it

prevents use of PatentCenter. When applied to critical functions

(like retrieving applications to file), it risks loss of rights to

patent holders, and at least excessive costs in late fees, penalties,

and/or petition fees.

Happened to me as well (about 3 hours ago). I wasn't doing

searches, had only accessed one application, so maybe "search

limit" applies not to user but to (USPTO-side) system? Thought that

logging out and logging back in might fix, but no go. Fortunately I did

not have anything that absolutely needed to be done at that moment, but

Tim is 100% correct about this Russian-Roulette "search limit reached"

error being equivalent to "system down/unavailable," since user appears

to be prevented from doing _anything_ in PatentCenter when error occurs.

Does anyone have a feel for how long unusable state is likely to

persist once such a system down/unavailable error occurs?

With such bugs still unfixed, it boggles the mind to think that the

USPTO believes it to be in USPTO's interest to eliminate the existing

EFS-Web/PAIR system as backup. This sort of disregard for negative

outcomes only happens when one does not have skin in the game. Any

chance we could find a court that would take a class-action lawsuit

filed on behalf of USPTO users whose rights end up being prejudiced

if/when EFS-Web/PAIR is retired?

---Gerry

Gerry Peters

U.S. Patent Agent & Japanese Translator

JTT K.K. (OSAKA & TOKYO JAPAN)

JTT PATENT SERVICES, LLC (NH USA)

JTT TRANSLATION SERVICES, LLC (NH USA)

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BEGIN MSG ID

19ce6520-8400-4eec-b8ef-83d2fe28b2bb at thompsonpatentlaw.com<mailto:19ce6520-8400-4eec-b8ef-83d2fe28b2bb at thompsonpatentlaw.com> <<

Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2023 17:20:41 -0600

From: Timothy Snowden via Patentcenter <patentcenter at oppedahl-lists.com><mailto:patentcenter at oppedahl-lists.com>

To: Patentcenter <patentcenter at oppedahl-lists.com><mailto:patentcenter at oppedahl-lists.com>

Cc: Timothy Snowden <timothy at thompsonpatentlaw.com><mailto:timothy at thompsonpatentlaw.com>

Subject: [Patentcenter] Cannot access saved submissions on Workbench on

PatentCenter

This is a new one. PatentCenter is blocking me from filing a response

to an imminent bar date by preventing me from accessing saved

submissions on my Workbench. This is a systemic error in which an error

"Search limit reached" is given at random times, at random intervals,

on random parts of PatentCenter, and to random people. Always, it

prevents use of PatentCenter. When applied to critical functions (like

retrieving applications to file), it risks loss of rights to patent

holders, and at least excessive costs in late fees, penalties, and/or

petition fees.

See screenshot below.

END MSG ID

19ce6520-8400-4eec-b8ef-83d2fe28b2bb at thompsonpatentlaw.com<mailto:19ce6520-8400-4eec-b8ef-83d2fe28b2bb at thompsonpatentlaw.com> <<
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