[E-trademarks] Trademark Center supposedly did get beta-tested!?

[Carl Oppedahl]

My own experience with Trademark Center has been that it has, from its 
initial launch, been riddled with bugs and missing features from TEAS.

Recently I had been forced to deal with Office Actions where the 
Examiner was having trouble working out the filing basis.  These are in 
applications that I filed in Trademark Center and I distinctly recall 
that at the time of filing, Trademark Center would not really allow me 
to select filing bases in a way that made sense.  I had a 44d priority 
claim and was not able to also pick ITU as a separate click place.  Very 
frustrating.  The application as filed contained proper ITU language as 
spelled out in the Lanham Act, but not (apparently) in a way that was 
clearly visible to the Examiner.  Hence the Office Actions, in cases 
that could otherwise have been instantly approved for pub.  Extra work 
for the Examiner and extra work for me.

Some weeks after those filings happened, I saw that this particular part 
of Trademark Center had been modified by the developers and after that, 
this particular problem seemed to have been remedied.

There was also an early time in the life of Trademark Center that it 
seemed to be impossible to present, in a single application, both a 
priority claim and a 44e filing basis.  The problem was that one of the 
click path questions was "do you have a pending foreign application?".  
And of course if the filer is trying to present a 44e basis, then by 
definition the foreign filing is no longer "pending" but is 
"registered".  Within recent weeks, however, I see that this part of 
Trademark Center has also been modified by the developers and now this 
particular problem seemed to have been remedied.

There are many, many more weaknesses and poor-design elements of TC, and 
missing features that never got brought forward from TEAS, that remain 
outstanding to this day.  One simple practical gripe is that a seemingly 
simple filing that would have taken me five or six minutes to prepare in 
TEAS invariably sucks up well over twenty minutes in TC.

Anyway, the overall impression I got is that no meaningful beta testing 
with real paying customers ever took place back before the cutoff of 
TEAS for new applications.  Or, the more I think about it, maybe TC beta 
testing did happen, and maybe TC beta testers did report poor design 
elements and bugs and missing features, and maybe it is simply that the 
reports fell on deaf ears.  As mentioned below, I myself served as alpha 
and beta tester on Financial Manager and Patent Center, and I reported 
dozens of bugs and missing features, and I think each and every report 
that I provided fell on deaf ears.

I griped about this a few days ago to a couple of people at the 
Trademark Office, and this is what I heard back today by email. It is a 
big surprise.  This email tells me that "dozens" of actual members of 
this listserv supposedly beta-tested TC.   Indeed supposedly "five 
rounds of beta testing" of TC took place prior to the cutoff of TEAS for 
new applications.

It is very hard to know how to react to this email from the Trademark 
Office person.  It sort of looks like finger-pointing, like if there 
were defects in TC when it was placed into production, then this is 
because members of this listserv did not test TC well enough when they 
were beta testing it.

The email invites me to "volunteer" in the link for volunteering to beta 
test USPTO systems.  I served as a volunteer beta tester about fifteen 
years ago for Financial Manager.  I served as a volunteer alpha tester 
for Patent Center back in 2018, and then served as a beta tester of that 
system.  As for the link in which a person can volunteer, I volunteered 
in that link within days of when that link got posted.  But no, I did 
not get asked to beta-test TC.

And no, I did not know that the PRA supposedly puts a cap on how many 
beta testers are permitted ("9").  It sort of looks like a made-up 
excuse for failing to do proper beta testing.  The PRA was in place back 
when I served as

If you as a listserv member were among the "dozens" that supposedly 
really did participate in one or another of the "five rounds of beta 
testing" prior to the beta release, I would be most grateful if you 
could post something about the experience to the listserv, or drop me a 
note privately.

If you as a listserv member were among the "dozens" that supposedly 
really did participate in one or another of the "several more rounds of 
testing following" the beta release, I would be most grateful if you 
could post something about the experience to the listserv, or drop me a 
note privately.

If you as a listserv member participated in one or another of the 
"one-on-one user sessions", I would be most grateful if you could post 
something about the experience to the listserv, or drop me a note 
privately.

Given that the CX team is now decimated, with a staff size of "1", and 
given how badly the rollout of TC went in its role as a successor to 
TEAS as a way to file new trademark applications, I am aghast that the 
Trademark Office would plow ahead with continued cutoff of other TEAS 
functions.  According to this email, the next two TEAS functions to be 
cut off would apparently be the Voluntary Amendment ("VA") form and the 
and Change Address or Representation ("CAR") form.

If any members of this listserv get invited to beta-test the TC 
successor to VA or the TC successor to CAR (or any other piece of TC), I 
would be most grateful if you could post it to the listserv, or drop me 
a note privately.

    Your email was forwarded to me for further information about
    Trademark Center testing. As you know, the Paperwork Reduction Act
    constrains the research options of federal agencies, so our customer
    experience team conducts standardized research using groups of
    volunteers numbering 9 or fewer. We also conduct direct observations
    and one-on-one user sessions.

    In the case of Trademark Center, there were five rounds of testing
    prior to the beta release, and several more rounds following. This
    testing is ongoing, albeit at reduced scope. Our testing capacity
    has been adjusted since January as the CX team has downsized to one
    person.

    Based on the names in the E-trademarks Archives on your site, dozens
    of members of that list were invited to the beta or other testing
    and participated. They had all signed up at the link below in Ms.
    Jackson’s email. We encourage you to sign up there as well if you
    are interested in participating.

    You can also provide feedback directly to TEAS at uspto.gov, which
    handles Trademark Center matters. Screenshots and a concise
    description of the issue are always welcome. We are currently
    revising the specimen upload and dates of use sections of the
    initial application form based on feedback, and will soon offer new
    features currently found in the Voluntary Amendment and Change
    Address or Representation TEAS forms.
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