[Patentcenter] fax receipt from Patent Office?

Thu Jan 4 10:17:21 EST 2024

On a semi-related topic, I spent 2.5 hours on hold to speak to Publications yesterday to essentially beg them to take my money.  I paid 9 plant issue fees on 12/27, each with a PartB that authorized deduction from my deposit account (because, as far as I’m aware, Patent Center still provides no way to pay the correct issue fee online for plant applications).   In true USPTO fashion, 8 of the 9 issue fees were deducted the next day, 12/28, but one still has not been deducted, so I called to ask it to be deducted as soon as possible.  It’s due on the 13th, and the representative said there’s really nothing he can do, but “sent a message” to see why it hadn’t been deducted – now I’m supposed to just wait until Friday and “see what happens.”

This is ridiculous.  Most of the time they can’t take their money fast enough, sometimes they drag their feet – it feels like the closer you are to a deadline, the more they like to play with your emotions.

Best regards,

Katherine

Dr. Katherine Koenig
Registered Patent Attorney
Koenig IP Works, PLLC
2208 Mariner Dr.
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316
(954) 903-1699
katherine at koenigipworks.com<mailto:katherine at koenigipworks.com>

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From: Patentcenter <patentcenter-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com> On Behalf Of Sandra L Etherton via Patentcenter
Sent: Wednesday, January 3, 2024 7:50 PM
To: 'For bug reports, feature requests, and tips and tricks about Patent Center.' <patentcenter at oppedahl-lists.com>
Cc: Sandra L Etherton <sandra at ethertonlaw.com>
Subject: Re: [Patentcenter] fax receipt from Patent Office?

An update from Dec 18 fax event:

Several people emailed me outside of this listserve about whether they regularly got a faxback receipts from the PTO. Some said yes; some said no. Thank you all for your input.

I never did get a faxback receipt from the Patent Office, but the credit card charge went through for the fees about 48 hours after I faxed it in.* As Carl said, follow the money! The new POA and petition have not been uploaded, though, and the patent still shows as expired for failing to timely pay the maintenance fee.

*I suspect there’s damage to the public and PTO because fees were not deposited timely due to Patent Center not accepting e-filing for this. Instead, the fees were charged two days later than they could have been. I’m no cash management guru, but I assume the PTO gets paid interest on its deposits. Hypothetically, with simple 3% interest on $1640 fee for 2 days, the Patent Office lost ~$0.25 in interest on my submission. That adds up if fees for many submissions aren’t being deposited as quickly as they had been when EFS was live.

Sandra

______________________

Sandra L Etherton
Registered U.S. Patent Attorney

ETHERTON LAW GROUP, LLC
tel: (602) 681-3331 | fax:  (602) 681-3339
email: sandra at ethertonlaw.com<mailto:sandra at ethertonlaw.com>

www.ethertonlaw.com<http://www.ethertonlaw.com>

From: Patentcenter [mailto:patentcenter-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com] On Behalf Of Carl Oppedahl via Patentcenter
Sent: Monday, December 18, 2023 4:46 PM
To: For bug reports, feature requests, and tips and tricks about Patent Center. <patentcenter at oppedahl-lists.com<mailto:patentcenter at oppedahl-lists.com>>
Cc: Carl Oppedahl <carl at oppedahl.com<mailto:carl at oppedahl.com>>
Subject: Re: [Patentcenter] fax receipt from Patent Office?

Keep in mind that if the documents that you faxed to the USPTO include a document that leads to the USPTO taking money from you, then you will benefit from the fact that they have internal standards that somebody at the USPTO acts on the money-grab as fast as is humanly possible.  If they did in fact receive the fax, then I absolutely predict that your credit card charge (if that is what it was) will get processed no later than one business day.  In other words, no later than tomorrow.

At which point you could check the web site of your credit card company and see the charge.  And then you can be confident that the fax really did go through.
On 12/18/2023 3:36 PM, Sandra L Etherton via Patentcenter wrote:
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I had to file a petition to pay a late maintenance fee by fax today since a) Patent Center didn’t have the right fees in “Calculate Fees” and b) couldn’t file an ePetition because I wasn’t entered as POA in the file and instead was submitting a new POA. I faxed to 571-273-8300 as suggested by EBC.

I got a fax receipt from my webfax company that the fax went through successfully, but I haven’t received a fax receipt from the Patent Office. In the old days the PTO faxed-back a receipt almost immediately. It’s been several hours now and no PTO receipt yet.

Does the Patent Office still send fax acknowledgements that a fax was received? If so, how long does it take?

Sandra

______________________

Sandra L Etherton
Registered U.S. Patent Attorney

ETHERTON LAW GROUP, LLC
tel: (602) 681-3331 | fax:  (602) 681-3339
email: sandra at ethertonlaw.com<mailto:sandra at ethertonlaw.com>

www.ethertonlaw.com<http://www.ethertonlaw.com>

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