[E-trademarks] Signature problem

Fri Apr 25 18:45:56 UTC 2025

It took five hours, but eventually TEAS at USPTO.GOV found time to get back 
to me.  They said:

    The referenced error is being caused by a bug in form. Our
    developers are currently working on a resolution. Unfortunately, we
    do not have a timeframe on when the issue will be resolved.

Which still leaves the question why is this nowhere disclosed on USPTO's 
System Status page?

They went on to suggest trying to click on the link after clearing all 
cookies and cache.  That is nuts of course as I had already tried this 
many hours ago.  Including simply launching the link in a different 
browser that has never been used for any USPTO purpose.  No, that dog 
won't hunt.  Wasted another 20 minutes of my professional time.

Then they suggest editing the trademark application, changing from "send 
to another person" to "upload signed declaration".  Now of course that 
path only makes sense if you somehow already have a signed declaration.  
It turns out that this click path is misnamed.  What really happens if 
you click on "upload signed declaration" is not that you upload a signed 
declaration.  What really happens is you keep clicking and eventually 
you download a PDF form.  And then the idea is that you try to get an 
ink signature by the client, on the PDF form.  And then maybe you do 
obtain the ink signature.  In that case, you then go back and do a 
repeat of the click path "upload signed declaration" and eventually you 
reach a page where you can upload a signed declaration.

A big drawback to this approach is that it breaks the "review and sign" 
link that had already been sent to the client.  Now if the client clicks 
on that link, they get a big red error message that says:

    This link has expired
    This happened because the preparer made changes to the application.
    Please contact your application preparer for a new link.

So anyway, now I have edited all eight of my trademark applications, 
changing all eight of them from "send to another person" to "upload 
signed declaration".   I have sent all eight trademark applications to 
the client as PDFs, along with the eight signature PDFs that TC 
generated.  Hopefully eventually I will get signed documents back from 
the client (who is in Europe) as scanned PDF files.

Of course we have now lost the weekend, and have indeed thus lost an 
extra 3 days in the "review and sign" process.  These applications claim 
priority European applications that were filed almost six months ago.  
So the USPTO is forcing me to cut this really really close on the 
six-month Paris priority period.

At this point it is difficult to have any level of trust that the 
"upload signed declaration" click path will actually work.  But losers 
can't be choosers on this.

On 4/25/2025 11:02 AM, Carl Oppedahl via E-trademarks wrote:
>
> Thank you for posting.
>
> My disappointments today with the USPTO on this system failure have 
> now increased and worsened.  This has inspired yet another blog 
> article USPTO fails to handle system failure well 
> <https://blog.oppedahl.com/uspto-fails-to-handle-system-failure-well/>.
>
> On 4/25/2025 10:58 AM, mary harris wrote:
>> Last week and then on Monday, I had problems with filing renewals and 
>> maintenance forms.  When I tried to save the form, the system erased 
>> all of the information I'd input, and did NOT save the form.  Had to 
>> start over again.  Then after hitting submit on the signature request 
>> screen, I got the equivalent of the black screen of death - the weird 
>> message we've all gotten (can't remember the wording) and I couldn't 
>> get around it.  At least the form was saved at that point so that I 
>> could open another browser (Firefox) and send the form to my inbox 
>> for forwarding to the client.  It's really a mess.
>>
>>
>> Mary A. Harris, Esq.
>> 960 Toro Street
>> San Luis Obispo, California USA 93401
>>
>> mary at maryharrislaw.com
>>
>> www.maryharrislaw.com <http://www.maryharrislaw.com>
>>
>>
>> (805) 543-0855 (telephone)
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> CONFIDENTIAL AND/OR ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGED COMMUNICATION
>>
>>
>> This e-mail may contain confidential and privileged material for the 
>> sole use of the intended recipient. Any review or distribution by 
>> others is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, 
>> please contact the sender and delete all copies.
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> *From:* E-trademarks <e-trademarks-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com> on 
>> behalf of Carl Oppedahl via E-trademarks 
>> <e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com>
>> *Sent:* Friday, April 25, 2025 7:52 AM
>> *To:* For trademark practitioners. This is not for laypersons to seek 
>> legal advice. <e-trademarks at oppedahl-lists.com>
>> *Cc:* Carl Oppedahl <carl at oppedahl.com>
>> *Subject:* Re: [E-trademarks] Signature problem
>>
>> It is quite a disappointment to me that this failure in Trademark 
>> Center is not acknowledged in the System status and availability 
>> <https://www.uspto.gov/system-status> web page.
>>
>>
>> On 4/25/2025 8:35 AM, Carl Oppedahl via E-trademarks wrote:
>>>
>>> I have blogged about this here 
>>> <https://blog.oppedahl.com/usptos-trademark-center-is-broken-for-logo-applications/>.
>>>
>>> On 4/25/2025 8:21 AM, Carl Oppedahl via E-trademarks wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Yes exactly.  I had this happen earlier today and I failed to draw 
>>>> the connection that you had reported this problem two days ago.  
>>>> Thankfully alert colleague Mary Harris pointed out that you had 
>>>> already reported this problem.  Thank you to Mary Harris.
>>>>
>>>> On 4/23/2025 4:11 PM, Russell Nugent via E-trademarks wrote:
>>>>> Dear Group,
>>>>>
>>>>> I am having a trouble with three of my drafted applications.  When 
>>>>> I (or the client) click on the link to review and sign the 
>>>>> application, the link goes to the correct page and then 
>>>>> immediately redirects to my trademark center docket page.  It is 
>>>>> happening on different computers with different browsers and 
>>>>> redrafting the applications did not solve the problem.  Has anyone 
>>>>> else encountered this problem?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Russell D. Nugent
>>>>> Comprising IP
>>>>> 1213 Culbreth Dr, Ste 112
>>>>> Wilmington, NC 28405
>>>>> nugent at comprisingip.com <mailto:nugent at comprisingip.com> (private)
>>>>> 910-550-3259 (private)
>>>>> contact at comprisingip.com <mailto:contact at comprisingip.com>
>>>>> 910-509-7131
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>
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