<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)">
<style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Aptos;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Goudy Old Style";
panose-1:2 2 5 2 5 3 5 2 3 3;}
@font-face
{font-family:Garamond;
panose-1:2 2 4 4 3 3 1 1 8 3;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Segoe UI";
panose-1:2 11 5 2 4 2 4 2 2 3;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Malgun Gothic";
panose-1:2 11 5 3 2 0 0 2 0 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:"\@Malgun Gothic";}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Aptos",sans-serif;
mso-ligatures:standardcontextual;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:#467886;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle21
{mso-style-type:personal-reply;
font-family:"Goudy Old Style",serif;
color:#1F497D;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-size:10.0pt;
mso-ligatures:none;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
</head>
<body lang="EN-US" link="#467886" vlink="#96607D" style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div class="WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Goudy Old Style",serif;color:#1F497D">Well, the system availability page says ETAS and EPAS will not be available after the maintenance period ends at 11 pm, and we should use IPAS instead. EPAS
and ETAS still say the new system will be available on the 22<sup>nd</sup>. So if that’s accurate, either no assignment handline will be available the entire weekend or IPAS gets a 3-day head start.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Goudy Old Style",serif;color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Goudy Old Style",serif;color:#1F497D">At the moment, any attempt to reach assignments.uspto.gov gets a DNS PROBE FINISHED NXDOMAIN error, so the PTO hasn’t put up even an “under construction” website,
although that’s probably antithetical to the New Way of Working at the PTO.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Goudy Old Style",serif;color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Goudy Old Style",serif;color:#1F497D;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN">Best regards,<br>
<b>Richard A. Schafer | Schafer IP Law</b></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond",serif;color:#1F497D;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN"><br>
</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Goudy Old Style",serif;color:#1F497D;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN">P.O. Box 230081 | Houston, TX 77223<br>
M: 832.283.6564 | </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Goudy Old Style",serif;color:#1F497D;mso-ligatures:none"><a href="mailto:richard@schafer-ip.com"><span style="color:#0563C1">richard@schafer-ip.com</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Goudy Old Style",serif;color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div>
<div style="border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in">
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none">From:</span></b><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none"> Patentcenter <patentcenter-bounces@oppedahl-lists.com>
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Randall Svihla via Patentcenter<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, January 16, 2024 7:31 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> For bug reports, feature requests, and tips and tricks about Patent Center. <patentcenter@oppedahl-lists.com><br>
<b>Cc:</b> Randall Svihla <rsvihla@nsiplaw.com><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Patentcenter] PTO continues to change its story on launch of IPAS (Assignment Center)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Perhaps the new-and-improved-greatest-thing-since-sliced-bread IPAS or Assignment Center will go live on January 22, 2024.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div>
<div style="border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in">
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none">From:</span></b><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none"> Patentcenter <<a href="mailto:patentcenter-bounces@oppedahl-lists.com">patentcenter-bounces@oppedahl-lists.com</a>>
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Richard Schafer via Patentcenter<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, January 16, 2024 8:25 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> users of Patentcenter <<a href="mailto:patentcenter@oppedahl-lists.com">patentcenter@oppedahl-lists.com</a>>; E-trademarks <<a href="mailto:e-trademarks-bounces@oppedahl-lists.com">e-trademarks-bounces@oppedahl-lists.com</a>><br>
<b>Cc:</b> Richard Schafer <<a href="mailto:richard@schafer-ip.com">richard@schafer-ip.com</a>><br>
<b>Subject:</b> [Patentcenter] PTO continues to change its story on launch of IPAS (Assignment Center)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Goudy Old Style",serif">I love the customer-focused attitude of the PTO.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Goudy Old Style",serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Goudy Old Style",serif">On January 11, the PTO announced that Assignment Center would replace EPAS and ETAS on January 22, 2024. But what do I see today on the PTO status page?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Goudy Old Style",serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:.5in;line-height:15.75pt;background:white">
<b><span style="font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:#1B1B1B">Electronic Patent Assignments System (EPAS) and Electronic Trademark Assignments System (ETAS) Maintenance</span></b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:#1B1B1B"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:.5in;line-height:15.75pt;background:white;box-sizing: border-box;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:#1B1B1B">The USPTO Certified Copy and Assignments (CC&A) Product team will replace the EPAS and ETAS systems with IPAS (Assignment Center), <b>from 9 a.m. until 11 p.m. on Friday, January
19 ET.</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:.5in;line-height:15.75pt;background:white;box-sizing: border-box;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-thickness: initial;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Segoe UI",sans-serif;color:#1B1B1B">During the maintenance period and after, the EPAS and ETAS products will not be available. Please use the new product at: <a href="https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/" target="_blank"><b><span style="color:#005EA2">https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov</span></b></a>. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Goudy Old Style",serif">So apparently they’ve moved the date again, this time in a way that eliminates the ability to record assignments nearly all day Friday, January 19. After all, we couldn’t
expect the PTO’s IT staff to work over the weekend, could we?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Goudy Old Style",serif;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Goudy Old Style",serif;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN">Best regards,<br>
<b>Richard A. Schafer | Schafer IP Law</b></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Garamond",serif;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN"><br>
</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Goudy Old Style",serif;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN">P.O. Box 230081 | Houston, TX 77223<br>
M: 832.283.6564 | </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Goudy Old Style",serif;mso-ligatures:none"><a href="mailto:richard@schafer-ip.com"><span style="color:#0563C1">richard@schafer-ip.com</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>