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

[Patent Lawyer]

When United Airlines and Continental merged, the newly merged airline used Continental's reservation system (at the backend), but United still used its front end.

I discovered this when I booked an international flight using the United online reservation system.    The reservation was given a sort of "tentative" status, which lasted about a day, after which it was confirmed.  I called United to find out what was going on and was told that for some international flights, the reservations made on the United system were being printed out and then manually entered into the Continental reservation system.   I was booking with United’s loyalty points (“miles”), which may have been the reason for this convoluted process.

(I may have it wrong as to whose system was retained, but I know they printed out bookings from one reservation system and manually entered them into the other.)

Maybe the PTO is doing the same thing.
Maybe the PTO has been taking the assignment data we enter into the current (soon-to-be-legacy) system, and maybe they are manually entering it into their new system.
And maybe they are finding more about the NWONW (New way of not working!)



From: Patentcenter <patentcenter-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com> on behalf of Patentcenter Patentcenter <patentcenter at oppedahl-lists.com>
Reply-To: Patentcenter Patentcenter <patentcenter at oppedahl-lists.com>
Date: Friday, January 19, 2024 at 5:31 PM
To: "Goldberg, Judi" <jgoldberg at leydig.com>
Cc: Krista Jacobsen <krista at jacobseniplaw.com>, Patentcenter Patentcenter <patentcenter at oppedahl-lists.com>
Subject: Re: [Patentcenter] PTO continues to change its story on launch of IPAS (Assignment Center)

Thank you, Judi and Andrea, for confirming I am not losing my mind (or maybe that we all are?).

I am finally able to see the filed application in PC, and EPAS recognized the application number. I guess the mice that carry the data in their little napsaks between the PC victim-facing interface and the IFW and EPAS repositories were running a little bit slower than usual today.

------------------------------------------
Krista S. Jacobsen
Attorney and Counselor at Law
Jacobsen IP Law
krista at jacobseniplaw.com<mailto:krista at jacobseniplaw.com>
T:  408.455.5539
www.jacobseniplaw.com<http://www.jacobseniplaw.com>


On Fri, Jan 19, 2024 at 1:07 PM Goldberg, Judi <jgoldberg at leydig.com<mailto:jgoldberg at leydig.com>> wrote:
Hi Krista,
I also just filed a 371 application and ran into a similar issue.  I normally go directly to the EPAS website, but this time I clicked on the ‘file assignment’ link in PC immediately after completing my 371 filing.  I like that it included the application number (normally I copy and paste from the EFS receipt and have to remove a comma and remember the last digit…) but then I got a message that the application number was invalid.  I had just filed an earlier 371 application and was able to submit the assignment (thru the EPAS site directly) with no problem, so I saved my submission, waited a few minutes, and went back into the submission, and then everything worked perfectly.  Not sure if saving the submission did anything, but at least if I had to go back in later, I would have to redo all the info already filled in.

I also didn’t have any issues with recordation last month – I usually get my recordation notices within a day.

Hope it starts to work for you.

Best,
- Judi

From: Krista Jacobsen <krista at jacobseniplaw.com<mailto:krista at jacobseniplaw.com>>
Sent: Friday, January 19, 2024 2:56 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: Goldberg, Judi <jgoldberg at leydig.com<mailto:jgoldberg at leydig.com>>
Subject: Re: [Patentcenter] PTO continues to change its story on launch of IPAS (Assignment Center)


[External Email]
I'm trying to file an assignment using EPAS right now for a 371 application I just filed. I'm following the same steps I always follow, which include filing the assignment right after I finish filing the application. Today, however, EPAS is telling me that the application number, copied and pasted in from the EAR (and of course erasing the USPTO's own comma and manually typing in the last digit), is an "Invalid application number." I've double and triple checked that it's right.

Seems they broke something -- surprise, surprise. This follows on the heels of me filing multiple assignments in December and not getting any recordation notices until I sent an email to ask where they were.

I also cannot see the application I just filed in PC. Normally within a few minutes I can copy in the number on the "Home" screen and see the file wrapper, but it's not working at the moment.

The wheels seem to be flying off over there.

------------------------------------------
Krista S. Jacobsen
Attorney and Counselor at Law
Jacobsen IP Law
krista at jacobseniplaw.com<mailto:krista at jacobseniplaw.com>
T:  408.455.5539
www.jacobseniplaw.com<http://www.jacobseniplaw.com>


On Fri, Jan 19, 2024 at 11:13 AM Goldberg, Judi via Patentcenter <patentcenter at oppedahl-lists.com<mailto:patentcenter at oppedahl-lists.com>> wrote:
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….

[cid:image001.jpg at 01DA4B12.A8D951C0]

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…

[cid:image002.png at 01DA4B12.A8D951C0]

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<http://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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