[Patentcenter] 401 Forbidden

Thu Oct 17 17:58:35 UTC 2024

There is a workaround to not having to clear cookies - if you go to Assignment Center  (start at uspto.gov and select Record Assignment, from in Assignment Center you can use the Patents dropdown and get back to Patent Center.

Also, I recently found out about an additional option for finding saved submissions. If you go to Workbench and View Saved Submissions, after the page loads on the left check the "include auto-saved submissions" box.   I don't know when in the process PC will auto-save, but it's worth looking there.

From: Patentcenter <patentcenter-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com> On Behalf Of Anne Weeden-Franssen via Patentcenter
Sent: Thursday, October 17, 2024 1:44 PM
To: For bug reports, feature requests, and tips and tricks about Patent Center. <patentcenter at oppedahl-lists.com>
Cc: Anne Weeden-Franssen <anne.weeden-franssen at cojk.com>
Subject: Re: [Patentcenter] 401 Forbidden

Yes, I too have experienced the inanity of this whole logging out/401 issue.

I had just finished uploading an IDS with references (that required some re-saving because of PTO naming conventions, ugh), when I was magically pushed out of Patent Center.

I had to re-upload the entire IDS and references to get it submitted.  I was then asked for my opinion and gave it very honestly* (*sometimes the truth will hurt).

Subsequent to this, I found that when logging on to Patent Center, even if I was signed on under MyUSPTO, I could not get to anything, just a blank screen with the url showing [...]401.

Finally figured out that it wanted me to delete all cookies (in addition to cache, browsing history).

However, this has not repaired the fact that I am consistently, frequently logged out without warning, perhaps the most annoying aspect of all.

Happy PatentCentering to all,
Anne

Anne Weeden-Franssen
Legal Assistant
Christensen O'Connor Johnson Kindness PLLC

From: Patentcenter <patentcenter-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com<mailto:patentcenter-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com>> On Behalf Of Alan Taboada via Patentcenter
Sent: Thursday, October 17, 2024 8:28 AM
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: Alan Taboada <ataboada at mtiplaw.com<mailto:ataboada at mtiplaw.com>>
Subject: Re: [Patentcenter] 401 Forbidden

I know others have mentioned the issue of being logged out of Patent Center at random times, but yesterday I was subject to a new one.

I had just completed a filing (for which there were various issues, including not being able to pay a fee that needed to be paid because of the "smart" selection of available fees to pay in Patent Center).
I downloaded the e-filing receipt and clicked pay fees and paid what fees I could (and hoped the deposit account authorization would be noticed and used to pay the remaining necessary fees).

When the e-filing receipt came up for the payment of fees, a pop-up window opened up asking me if I wanted to give feedback to the USPTO about my experience with Patent Center.

I sometimes fill out those feedback forms, but they pop up so frequently, I also often just click cancel.
In this case, since I had a particular problem, I decided to give feedback.

I tried to download and save the e-filing receipt first, but the pop-up window prevented any navigation or clicking in the background window - I had to either provide feedback now or click cancel in order to save the fee payment e-filing receipt.

So I clicked on provide feedback and took the less than five minutes to provide detailed feedback about how bad Patent Center is and how it could be improved.

In the less than five minutes it took to provide the feedback, after clicking submit and having the window close, the fee payment receipt screen spontaneously refreshed with the 401 forbidden error and indicating that I was logged out.
Merely refreshing the page logged me back in to Patent Center (without going to the login screen and obviously without entering any login credentials or two-factor authorization codes), but returned me to the home screen.

Going to View receipt history in the Workbench menu showed the e-filing receipt, but not the fee payment receipt.
Fortunately, I was able to download the fee payment receipt by viewing the documents and transactions window after searching for the matter in PC.

If the USPTO's goal is to make the process of filing documents, paying fees, saving proof-of-transaction receipts, etc. as difficult and frustrating as possible, they are doing a great job!

From: Patentcenter <patentcenter-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com<mailto:patentcenter-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com>> On Behalf Of Carl Oppedahl via Patentcenter
Sent: Thursday, October 17, 2024 10:42 AM
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] 401 Forbidden

design goal for any user interface:  when an error condition is detected by the software, the user interface ought to (a) give some sense of what is the cause (here, the customer has been frog-marched toward a forced logout that they surely did not want), and (b) give some sense of how to overcome the problem (maybe a "click here" to log in again).

When my bank does the forced logout, they at least come out and say it.  They say something very annoying like "congratulations, you have just now successfully logged out" but at least they come out and say it.  In contrast, the USPTO is passive-aggressive.  It forces the logout upon you but never comes out and says that this is what it is doing.

On 10/17/2024 8:33 AM, Krista Jacobsen via Patentcenter wrote:
Can the genius software developers at the USPTO seriously not do better than this wonkfest following a login timeout?

[cid:image001.png at 01DB209C.6ABCD9B0]

(A rhetorical question, of course.)

------------------------------------------
Krista S. Jacobsen
Attorney and Counselor at Law
Jacobsen IP Law
krista at jacobseniplaw.com<mailto:krista at jacobseniplaw.com>
T:  408.455.5539
https://link.edgepilot.com/s/6c5a6a45/Lc85_snNN0S_fHBKLnH4qA?u=http://www.jacobseniplaw.com/

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