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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'>Now that the fax option to submit documents has been hard down for days, I started researching how this could happen. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'>Per FedScoop, the Patent Office sent out an RFI in September 2023 to switch from RightFax to a cloud solution for faxes. Did the Patent Office already switch? Is that what’s causing the current fax outage?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'>The irony or prophecy is in the second line of the article, link below: <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'>“While the current USPTO fax system, RightFax, has only had one outage in 18 years, the system remains at risk for a larger disruption that could get in the way of the office’s handling of public customer document submissions”<span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'><a href="https://fedscoop.com/patent-and-trademark-office-looks-to-bring-faxing-to-the-cloud/">https://fedscoop.com/patent-and-trademark-office-looks-to-bring-faxing-to-the-cloud/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'>Links to the RFI are at the bottom of this page: <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'><a href="https://sam.gov/opp/0e651e45f4e1474cbd1ac0fb0914856a/view">https://sam.gov/opp/0e651e45f4e1474cbd1ac0fb0914856a/view</a></span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'>Sandra</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;color:navy'>______________________</span></b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#993366'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:navy'>Sandra L Etherton</span></b><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:navy'>Registered U.S. Patent Attorney</span><span style='font-size:8.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'>ETHERTON LAW GROUP, LLC</span></b><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#333333'>tel: (602) 681-3331 | fax: (602) 681-3339 </span><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#333333'>email: </span><span style='color:#1F497D'><a href="mailto:sandra@ethertonlaw.com"><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>sandra@ethertonlaw.com</span></a></span><span style='font-size:8.0pt;color:#333333'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:navy'><a href="http://www.ethertonlaw.com">www.ethertonlaw.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-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-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'> Patentcenter [mailto:patentcenter-bounces@oppedahl-lists.com] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Carl Oppedahl via Patentcenter<br><b>Sent:</b> Thursday, January 18, 2024 10:01 AM<br><b>To:</b> For bug reports, feature requests, and tips and tricks about Patent Center. <patentcenter@oppedahl-lists.com><br><b>Cc:</b> Carl Oppedahl <carl@oppedahl.com><br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [Patentcenter] Faxes to the PTO - some legacy things do work<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p>Yeah, I imagine most practitioners do always file the declaration with the application. I imagine I am quite out of the ordinary, having to hand in inventors' declarations later.<o:p></o:p></p><p>What happens to me is, I keep fiddling with the text of the patent application, particularly the claims, with multiple version changes leading up to the moment, late in the day on the last possible day, that I click "submit" and e-file it at the patent office.<o:p></o:p></p><p>The inventor declaration of course is tied to the notion that the signer has reviewed the patent application that is going to be filed, and agrees that he or she is an inventor thereof. But in my case, given that the exact wording of the application kept wriggling around until the very end, there is no way the inventor could be expected to sign such a thing until after the wriggling had ceased. Which means, no way could the inventor even sign the declaration until chronologically after the filing of the application had taken place.<o:p></o:p></p><p>Yet another thing that happens to me is, the instructions come in from foreign instructing counsel to please get something filed at the USPTO. So I prepare inventor declarations and send them to instructing counsel. The signed declarations do not arrive until some days later, long after the US patent application got filed. Which means, no way could I managed to file the declaration with the application.<o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>On 1/18/2024 8:49 AM, Randall Svihla via Patentcenter wrote:<o:p></o:p></p></div><blockquote style='margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt'><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>We always file the declaration with the application.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'> </span><o:p></o:p></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-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'> Patentcenter <a href="mailto:patentcenter-bounces@oppedahl-lists.com"><patentcenter-bounces@oppedahl-lists.com></a> <b>On Behalf Of </b>Roger Browdy via Patentcenter<br><b>Sent:</b> Thursday, January 18, 2024 10:34 AM<br><b>To:</b> For bug reports, feature requests, and tips and tricks about Patent Center. <a href="mailto:patentcenter@oppedahl-lists.com"><patentcenter@oppedahl-lists.com></a><br><b>Cc:</b> Roger Browdy <a href="mailto:RLBrowdy@browdyneimark.com"><RLBrowdy@browdyneimark.com></a><br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [Patentcenter] Faxes to the PTO - some legacy things do work</span><o:p></o:p></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>I don’t think it is a joke. I bet there was a huge volume of applications filed Tuesday night to avoid the DOCX tax. We had to file one late at night and had a hell of a time trying to do so. Couldn’t file the assignment/dec forms with EPAS because of the problems and couldn’t get back into PC to file the declaration directly, so have to pay the surcharge for late filing of declaration because of the PTO problems. In a fair world, we would be able to get that refunded.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>Roger</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'> </span><o:p></o:p></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-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'> Patentcenter <a href="mailto:patentcenter-bounces@oppedahl-lists.com"><patentcenter-bounces@oppedahl-lists.com></a> <b>On Behalf Of </b>Patent Lawyer via Patentcenter<br><b>Sent:</b> Thursday, January 18, 2024 10:25 AM<br><b>To:</b> For bug reports, feature requests, and tips and tricks about Patent Center. <a href="mailto:patentcenter@oppedahl-lists.com"><patentcenter@oppedahl-lists.com></a><br><b>Cc:</b> Patent Lawyer <a href="mailto:patentlawyer995@gmail.com"><patentlawyer995@gmail.com></a><br><b>Subject:</b> [Patentcenter] Faxes to the PTO - some legacy things do work</span><o:p></o:p></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>There was recent discussion about faxes to the PTO and return faxes from the PTO. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Because of yesterday’s shit show with Patent Center and because of other deficiencies in Patent Center, I had to fax four separate submissions to the PTO last night.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I did receive acknowledgment faxes back from the PTO for each submission. So, that legacy functionality is still there, and it still worked for me. (I hope the PTO lurkers on this list don’t go and turn it off!)<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I use a service called eFax. It is not free.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>PS. I am still laughing at Sandra E’s joke about DDOS being just normal filers filing in a volume the system can’t handle.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><br><br><o:p></o:p></p></blockquote></div></body></html>