[Patentpractice] Interesting notice from USPTO re data breach

[Dan Feigelson]

I got the following in one of my cases. Supposedly posted yesterday
(Saturday, April 27)

*Notice of Potential Erroneous Release of Patent Application Titles*

On February 5, 2024, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO),
replaced the Electronic Patent Assignment System (EPAS) and Electronic
Trademark Assignment System (ETAS) with Assignment Center.

Between February 5, 2024 and March 29, 2024, the USPTO, unintentionally,
through a computer programming error, permitted bibliographic information
to be viewed by unauthorized individuals with access to registered
Assignment Center accounts. This bibliographic information was limited to
the application number (the two-digit series code plus the six-digit serial
number) and title of the invention.

You are receiving this notification because your application ’spatent title
may have been viewed during that time frame by individual(s) who lacked
permission to do so . The software error was first reproduced by USPTO on
March 28, 2024, and was corrected on March 29, 2024. Only application
numbers and titles were disclosed; it is important to note that your
specification and claims were not part of the information made available
and were not accessed.

Any improper access of the application information between the dates of
February 5, 2024 and March 29, 2024, is not considered a publication of
such applications under 35 U.S.C. 122(b). No rights in United States
patents are threatened by the access to unpublished applications. It is
extremely unlikely that the title could disclose the invention in a way
that would constitute patent- defeating prior art in any jurisdiction. To
the extent any issue is raised, the USPTO will assist applicants by
confirming that the disclosure was erroneous and inadvertent.

We’re committed to data security and are taking enhanced steps to prevent
incidents such as this from happening in the future. The USPTO sincerely
regrets this error and is instituting more testing controls, both manual
and automated testing, to prevent similar processing errors in the future.

Inquiries regarding this matter may be directed to Mark Polutta, Senior
Legal Advisor, at (571) 272-7709 or Andrew Stclair, Legal Advisor, at (571)
270-0238, both of the Office of Patent Legal Administration or via email
addressed to ugPto.gov.

Henry “Jamie” Holcombe
Chief Information Officer
US Patent and Trademark Office
Office +1 (571)272-9400

Dated: April 27 th , 2024

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