<div dir="auto">FOIA experts, could a FOIA request help elucidate how the PatentCenter backup system is set up? The rationale being that if Carl’s scenario is correct, stakeholders could make specific requests to the USPTO and Congress for improvements that might prevent or decrease future failures.<br><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, Jan 3, 2024 at 7:17 PM Carl Oppedahl via Patentcenter <<a href="mailto:patentcenter@oppedahl-lists.com" target="_blank">patentcenter@oppedahl-lists.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204)"><u></u>
<div>
<p>USPTO people seem to have lied to us about the existence and
perfect reliability of a backup Patent Center system that
supposedly clicks into view in an automatic way whenever there is
a failure in the main Patent Center system.</p>
<p>One of the systems is called "Blue" and the other is called
"Green". I bet they are in the same building, connected to the
Internet by the same single buried cable. Powered by the same
single power supply. <br>
</p>
<p>Supposedly some perfectly reliable switching device makes it so
that users get connected to Blue or to Green in a way that is
invisible to the user, with the same URL (web address) being used
regardless of which of the two systems is the one that is
connected for users to use.</p>
<p>I bet the USPTO will never be even the tinest bit forthcoming
about what it is that failed for these fifty minutes, that made it
so that nobody could do anything (including filing a patent
application) for these fifty minutes. <br>
</p>
<p>Maybe both the Blue machine and the Green machine stopped working
because the single power supply that powers both of them failed
for the fifty-minute time period.</p>
<p>Maybe the single Internet connection that connects both machines
to users failed for fifty minutes.</p>
<p>Maybe the switching device that determines whether the user is
connected to the Blue machine or the Green machine had its own
crash for the fifty-minute time period.</p>
<p>But I bet the USPTO will never come clean with an actual truthful
explanation.<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<div>On 1/3/2024 3:46 PM, David M. Longo via
Patentcenter wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black">Based
on a call from our staff to the EBC at 4:55pm Eastern, the
USPTO reported that Patent Center had already been offline
for 20 minutes at that point and indicated that they had
received enough calls to send up an escalation ticket.
Patent Center didn’t come back to life until about 5:25pm
Eastern,
<u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif">meaning we had a complete outage of Patent Center for 50
minutes</u>. With the only alternative filing methods now
being paper, fax, or certified mail, this episode only
reinforces our lack of confidence in the single Patent
Center system with no electronic backup (like EFS-Web
Contingency). Another sigh….<u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u><u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black"><u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u> <u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black"><u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u> <u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black"><u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u> <u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u></span></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:repeat white"><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black">Best
regards,<u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u><u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:repeat white"><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black">_Dave<u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u><u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:repeat white"><b><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black"> </span></b><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black"><u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u><u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:repeat white"><b><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:rgb(11,124,181)">David
M. Longo, Ph.D.</span></b><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black"><u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u><u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:repeat white"><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:rgb(11,124,181)">Partner,
Attorney at Law</span><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:rgb(54,95,145)"><br>
</span><b><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black">Oblon,
McClelland, Maier & Neustadt, LLP</span></b><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black"> |
1940 Duke Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22314 | Direct:
703-412-1791 | Main: 703-413-3000 | </span><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:rgb(11,124,181)"><a href="mailto:dlongo@oblon.com" target="_blank" style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:blue">dlongo@oblon.com</span></a></span><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black"> | </span><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:rgb(11,124,181)"><a href="http://www.oblon.com/" target="_blank" style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:blue">www.oblon.com</span></a> |</span><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black"><u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u><u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u></span></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black"><u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u> <u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u></span></p>
<div>
<div style="border-width:1pt medium medium;border-style:solid none none;padding:3pt 0in 0in;border-color:rgb(225,225,225) currentcolor currentcolor">
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>From:</b> David M. Longo <br>
<b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, January 3, 2024 5:21 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:patentcenter@oppedahl-lists.com" target="_blank">patentcenter@oppedahl-lists.com</a><br>
<b>Subject:</b> our Glorious Patent Center is offline<u></u><u></u></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif">And
has been for awhile this evening (+/-5pm Eastern on Jan.
3). It returns the cleanest blank page you will ever see:<u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u><u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"><u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u> <u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><img src="cid:part1.2zhDJz0e.h0ftsnDr@oppedahl.com" border="0"><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"><u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u><u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"><u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u> <u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif">Such
a robust system. Sigh.
<u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u><u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"><u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u> <u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"><u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u> <u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"><u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u> <u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"><u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u> <u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:repeat white"><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black">Best
regards,<u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u><u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:repeat white"><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black">_Dave<u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u><u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:repeat white"><b><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black"> </span></b><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"><u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u><u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:repeat white"><b><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:rgb(11,124,181)">David
M. Longo, Ph.D.</span></b><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"><u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u><u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:repeat white"><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:rgb(11,124,181)">Partner,
Attorney at Law</span><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:rgb(54,95,145)"><br>
</span><b><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black">Oblon,
McClelland, Maier & Neustadt, LLP</span></b><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black"> |
1940 Duke Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22314 | Direct:
703-412-1791 | Main: 703-413-3000 | </span><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:rgb(11,124,181)"><a href="mailto:dlongo@oblon.com" target="_blank" style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:blue">dlongo@oblon.com</span></a></span><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:black"> | </span><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:rgb(11,124,181)"><a href="http://www.oblon.com/" target="_blank" style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif;color:blue">www.oblon.com</span></a> |</span><span style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"><u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u><u style="font-family:"Avenir Next LT Pro",sans-serif"></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
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