[Patentcenter] PTO continues to change its story on launch of IPAS (Assignment Center)

[Richard Schafer]

How does postponing the release date of IPAS/Assignment Center allow the PTO to "incorporate valuable stakeholder feedback" when no one outside the PTO appears to have any idea what the new system will look like? Apparently, they're incapable of running both the new system and the existing systems in parallel for even a short time (at least for non-PTO users), so unless the stakeholders providing the feedback are PTO Assignment Branch personnel complaining that it doesn't work right, I don't see how the delay gives them any benefit. Perhaps they just now realized that they might need to lay on EBC agents to answer questions and need the extra time to train them. If so, that's yet another management failure by the PTO.

As for the assertion that "Our first priority is always the success of our customers," I realize that's nothing but corporate puffery, but the Patent Center experience surely makes that laughable.

Best regards,
Richard A. Schafer | Schafer IP Law
P.O. Box 230081 | Houston, TX 77223
M: 832.283.6564 | richard at schafer-ip.com<mailto:richard at schafer-ip.com>

From: Patentcenter <patentcenter-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com> On Behalf Of Goldberg, Judi via Patentcenter
Sent: Friday, January 19, 2024 1:11 PM
To: For bug reports, feature requests, and tips and tricks about Patent Center. <patentcenter at oppedahl-lists.com>
Cc: Goldberg, Judi <jgoldberg at leydig.com>
Subject: Re: [Patentcenter] PTO continues to change its story on launch of IPAS (Assignment Center)

Just got this alert.  I'm glad they postponed the start date, but did I miss where we could provide valuable additional stakeholder feedback?  I have so many questions about the new system....

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From: Patentcenter <patentcenter-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com<mailto:patentcenter-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com>> On Behalf Of Barrett, Scott R. via Patentcenter
Sent: Friday, January 19, 2024 11:54 AM
To: users of Patentcenter <patentcenter at oppedahl-lists.com<mailto:patentcenter at oppedahl-lists.com>>
Cc: Barrett, Scott R. <Scott.Barrett at wilmerhale.com<mailto:Scott.Barrett at wilmerhale.com>>
Subject: Re: [Patentcenter] PTO continues to change its story on launch of IPAS (Assignment Center)


[External Email]
This apparently was delayed to February 5th...

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From: Patentcenter <patentcenter-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com<mailto:patentcenter-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com>> On Behalf Of Richard Schafer via Patentcenter
Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2024 10:00 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: Richard Schafer <richard at schafer-ip.com<mailto:richard at schafer-ip.com>>
Subject: Re: [Patentcenter] PTO continues to change its story on launch of IPAS (Assignment Center)

EXTERNAL SENDER

Well, the system availability page says ETAS and EPAS will not be available after the maintenance period ends at 11 pm, and we should use IPAS instead. EPAS and ETAS still say the new system will be available on the 22nd. So if that's accurate, either no assignment handline will be available the entire weekend or IPAS gets a 3-day head start.

At the moment, any attempt to reach assignments.uspto.gov gets a DNS PROBE FINISHED NXDOMAIN error, so the PTO hasn't put up even an "under construction" website, although that's probably antithetical to the New Way of Working at the PTO.

Best regards,
Richard A. Schafer | Schafer IP Law
P.O. Box 230081 | Houston, TX 77223
M: 832.283.6564 | richard at schafer-ip.com<mailto:richard at schafer-ip.com>

From: Patentcenter <patentcenter-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com<mailto:patentcenter-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com>> On Behalf Of Randall Svihla via Patentcenter
Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2024 7:31 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: Randall Svihla <rsvihla at nsiplaw.com<mailto:rsvihla at nsiplaw.com>>
Subject: Re: [Patentcenter] PTO continues to change its story on launch of IPAS (Assignment Center)

Perhaps the new-and-improved-greatest-thing-since-sliced-bread IPAS or Assignment Center will go live on January 22, 2024.


From: Patentcenter <patentcenter-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com<mailto:patentcenter-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com>> On Behalf Of Richard Schafer via Patentcenter
Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2024 8:25 PM
To: users of Patentcenter <patentcenter at oppedahl-lists.com<mailto:patentcenter at oppedahl-lists.com>>; E-trademarks <e-trademarks-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com<mailto:e-trademarks-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com>>
Cc: Richard Schafer <richard at schafer-ip.com<mailto:richard at schafer-ip.com>>
Subject: [Patentcenter] PTO continues to change its story on launch of IPAS (Assignment Center)

I love the customer-focused attitude of the PTO.

On January 11, the PTO announced that Assignment Center would replace EPAS and ETAS on January 22, 2024. But what do I see today on the PTO status page?

Electronic Patent Assignments System (EPAS) and Electronic Trademark Assignments System (ETAS) Maintenance
The USPTO Certified Copy and Assignments (CC&A) Product team will replace the EPAS and ETAS systems with IPAS (Assignment Center), from 9 a.m. until 11 p.m. on Friday, January 19 ET.
During the maintenance period and after, the EPAS and ETAS products will not be available. Please use the new product at: https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov<https://assignmentcenter.uspto.gov/>.
So apparently they've moved the date again, this time in a way that eliminates the ability to record assignments nearly all day Friday, January 19. After all, we couldn't expect the PTO's IT staff to work over the weekend, could we?

Best regards,
Richard A. Schafer | Schafer IP Law
P.O. Box 230081 | Houston, TX 77223
M: 832.283.6564 | richard at schafer-ip.com<mailto:richard at schafer-ip.com>

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