<div dir="ltr"><span style="color:rgb(11,15,20);font-family:InterVariable,system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif,"Apple Color Emoji","Segoe UI Emoji";font-size:18.75px;font-variant-ligatures:no-contextual"> I just called the USPTO's "Application Assistance Unit," 7035712400, to check/confirm their phone outage. And I got a recorded message stating they are "experiencing a temporary emergency at this time." </span></div><br><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, Mar 10, 2025 at 4:44\u202fPM Carl Oppedahl via Patentpractice <<a href="mailto:patentpractice@oppedahl-lists.com">patentpractice@oppedahl-lists.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><u></u>
<div>
<p>See
<a href="https://blog.oppedahl.com/how-to-reach-a-uspto-person-if-you-cant-reach-them-by-phone/" target="_blank">https://blog.oppedahl.com/how-to-reach-a-uspto-person-if-you-cant-reach-them-by-phone/</a>
. Some folks at the USPTO have private fax numbers. Just now I
sent faxes to two Examiners, asking them to call me.<br>
</p>
<div>On 3/10/2025 2:39 PM, Randall Svihla
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>This was just posted in the r/<span>patentexaminer</span> subreddit about 10
minutes ago:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span>IT Outage - Phones</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>Currently, examiners cannot receive
calls from external numbers. <span> </span>If you're
expecting a call from an attorney, you should call them.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span>From:</span></b><span>
Patentpractice
<a href="mailto:patentpractice-bounces@oppedahl-lists.com" target="_blank"><patentpractice-bounces@oppedahl-lists.com></a>
<b><span>On Behalf Of </span></b>Carl Oppedahl via
Patentpractice<br>
<b><span>Sent:</span></b> Monday, March 10, 2025 3:35 PM<br>
<b><span>To:</span></b> For patent practitioners. This
is not for laypersons to seek legal advice.
<a href="mailto:patentpractice@oppedahl-lists.com" target="_blank"><patentpractice@oppedahl-lists.com></a><br>
<b><span>Cc:</span></b> Carl Oppedahl
<a href="mailto:carl@oppedahl.com" target="_blank"><carl@oppedahl.com></a><br>
<b><span>Subject:</span></b> Re: [Patentpractice] Unable
to connect to any USPTO phone numbers</span></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>On 3/10/2025 1:14 PM, Carl Oppedahl
wrote:</span></p>
</div>
<blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>On 3/10/2025 12:49 PM, Michael
Dryja via Patentpractice wrote:</span></p>
</div>
<blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>Is anyone having this issue? As
of 11:47 am PT on Monday, March 10, for the past hour
when I\u2019ve tried calling any Examiner it either gives me
three fast beeps (using my T-Mobile cell phone) or rings
and rings and rings and hangs up (using my
<a href="http://Phone.com" target="_blank">Phone.com</a> Voip
line). </span></p>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> - Mike Dryja.</span></p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p><span>Yes it's not just you. I have called an Examiner
and the Examiner's SPE.</span></p>
<p><span>From my office phone direct extension, the call to
the SPE rings and rings, and clicks to a different ring
cadence, (maybe migrating to voice mail?) and then hangs
up on me.</span></p>
<p><span>From a personal phone number (VOIP), the call to the
SPE rings a while and then says "the number you are
calling from has been flagged as spam. If you believe
this to be in error, please press 1 to report the
problem." I press 1 and it hangs up on me.</span></p>
<p><span>I call from my cell phone and the recorded message is
"the number you have dialed has calling restrictions and
so the call cannot go through". And it hangs up on me.</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p><span>When I could not get through to the SPE, I dialed the
Director of the Tech Center. Nope. The call disconnects.</span></p>
<p><span>It is impossible to get through on the phone number for
Coke Morgan Stewart, the Director of the USPTO.</span></p>
<p><span> </span></p>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
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</blockquote></div>