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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Goudy Old Style",serif;color:#1F497D">I think it’s somewhat simpler than that, Carl. The ID.me people seem to have landed contracts to provide user authentication services to local, state, and federal governments.
The service is more than simply verifying that you’re a real person once; ID.me provides login processing services using the digital ID provided to people as a result of the authentication But the PTO scrapped its old encrypted login software (whose name I’ve
blocked out of my mind) before ID.me became available so Patent Center was designed with the “new” login processing software the PTO licensed for EFS and Private PAIR.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Goudy Old Style",serif;color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Goudy Old Style",serif;color:#1F497D">But when the PTO decided to require authentication and login processing for trademark practitioners, ID.me was available and apparently being urged as a standard within the
federal government, so TEAS was updated to use ID.me for new people, even though somehow they managed to shoehorn in login processing for existing patent practitioners, too.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Goudy Old Style",serif;color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Goudy Old Style",serif;color:#1F497D">I’m betting that since then, the PTO has been working to try to wedge ID.me into Patent Center and in June they expect to have that ready. Once that happens, I wouldn’t be
surprised to see the PTO try to urge patent practitioners with pre-ID.me-based accounts to migrate to ID.me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Goudy Old Style",serif;color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Goudy Old Style",serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN">Best regards,<br>
<b>Richard A. Schafer | Schafer IP Law</b></span><span style="font-family:"Garamond",serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN"><br>
</span><span style="font-family:"Goudy Old Style",serif;color:#1F497D;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN">P.O. Box 230081 | Houston, TX 77223<br>
M: 832.283.6564 | </span><span style="font-family:"Goudy Old Style",serif;color:#1F497D"><a href="mailto:richard@schafer-ip.com"><span style="color:#0563C1">richard@schafer-ip.com</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Goudy Old Style",serif;color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<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 <patentcenter-bounces@oppedahl-lists.com>
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Carl Oppedahl via Patentcenter<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, May 22, 2024 3:01 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> users of Patentcenter <patentcenter@oppedahl-lists.com><br>
<b>Cc:</b> Carl Oppedahl <carl@oppedahl.com><br>
<b>Subject:</b> [Patentcenter] ID.me and Patent Center?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p>A banner item that recently got posted <b><i>in Patent Center</i></b> by the Patent Center developers says this:<o:p></o:p></p>
<blockquote style="margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt">
<p><b>ID.me is currently available in MyUSPTO.gov for Trademark filers only.</b> Patent Center will be ready to support the ID.me verification process by the end of June, 2024.
<o:p></o:p></p>
</blockquote>
<p>I sort of can't figure out what the Patent Center developers are trying to say here. For one thing, I can't figure out why the Patent Center developers would post something in Patent Center that relates to trademark activity.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>For a second thing, there is no such thing as "myUSPTO.gov". There is no DNS entry for the domain name "myuspto.gov". I guess they mean "my.uspto.gov". Out of curiosity I surfed over to my.uspto.gov and saw this banner item that recently got posted by
the my.uspto.gov developers:<o:p></o:p></p>
<blockquote style="margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt">
<p>ID.ME is available for Trademark filers only. Patents has not implemented the digital identity proofing process at USPTO.<o:p></o:p></p>
</blockquote>
<p>I am sort of baffled in my effort to guess what the problem is for which these banner items are (supposedly) the solution. Here is my best guess ...<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>It is true that on the trademark side, there had been some USPTO postings about how if you want to be able to do TEAS things, you have to prove you are a human being, except if you are already a registered patent practitioner, you get a pass on having to
prove that you are a human being to be able to do TEAS things. The TEAS developers never quite came out and said what is going on here, but I guess they figured if you are a registered patent practitioner, then at some time in the past you sort of proved
you were already a human being. I guess this is whole "prove you are a human being or we won't let you use TEAS any more" is part of the effort by the people in the Commissioner for Trademarks office to combat the trademark filings from a certain foreign
country, that sort of thing.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>But that does not quite explain what the problem is for which these banner items are (supposedly) the solution. On the patent side, we do have this business of "sponsoring" a paralegal and only if the paralegal has been "sponsored" by a patent practitioner
is the paralegal able to do stuff as a logged-in person in Patent Center. If I recall correctly, one thing that happens when the registered practitioner does the clicking around to "sponsor" the paralegal is that the practitioner is required to certify that
the paralegal is an actual human being. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Maybe what is going on is that the Commissioner for Patents office people have decided that they don't trust the registered practitioner to be telling the truth when they say that the paralegal that they are "sponsoring" really is a human being? They want
the paralegal to be forced to do the ID.me thing, so that the ID.me service provider has checked out the "really a human being" status of the paralegal?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Or maybe what has been going on is that patent-sponsored paralegals have been phoning up the EBC, begging to please be allowed to be put through the wringer that is ID.me? They see the trademark-sponsored paralegals who get to have the honor and fun of
being put through the ID.me wringer, and they feel left out?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Anyway, I am hoping somebody who is more plugged into this "sponsor-a-paralegal" stuff can shed some light on this.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Carl<o:p></o:p></p>
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