[E-trademarks] Avoiding the "Broken Lightbulb" Issue with Trademark Center?

[Carl Oppedahl]

Wouldn't it have been nice if the Trademark Center developers had 
engaged in meaningful dialog with the membership of this listserv back 
when they were designing Trademark Center.  This is a feature that we 
all need.

On 11/17/2025 1:46 PM, Luke Adam via E-trademarks wrote:
> Hello All,
>
> Apologies if this has been discussed in the past, but has anyone come 
> up with a good strategy/practice for issues that come up now with new 
> applications filed through Trademark Center?  The scenario that keeps 
> coming up in our firm is this:
>
> 1.
>     Attorney 1 instructs and paralegal 1 prepares new TM app.  The new
>     TM app is prepared by the paralegal when logged into their USPTO
>     account
> 2.
>     Link to application sent to client to sign
> 3.
>     Client signs application, link returns to firm
> 4.
>     A different individual than paralegal 1 (say, paralegal 2) tries
>     to hit the file application button on the email.
> 5.
>     Broken lightbulb error message
>
>
> To the best of my knowledge, paralegal 1, attorney 1, and paralegal 
> 2's USPTO accounts are all connected and sponsored.
>
> It seems that only the individual that originally prepared the 
> application can actually complete the filing through their account. 
> Which I suppose makes sense.  But I am wondering how firms are 
> handling this, if say the paralegal that prepared the app is out of 
> the office when the link comes back signed?  Is there a solution here 
> that I am missing to avoid the broken lightbulb?  Thanks!
>
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