[Patentpractice] Unable to connect to any USPTO phone numbers

[Carl Oppedahl]

What's really said about this is that I quite literally am unable to 
know whether Alan's posting is an attempt at humor or is perhaps a bit 
of news from someone who has more information than I do.

I choose to assume it was an attempt at humor.

But recall the stretch of time a couple of weeks ago where everyone at 
some agency (I think it was NIH) was abruptly told to cease all external 
contact until further notice.

And recall the news yesterday that apparently some government credit 
cards have had their spending limit abruptly reduced to one dollar.

These kinds of events help to explain why I cannot rule out the 
possibility that Alan might be reporting how things really are.

On 3/10/2025 1:51 PM, Alan Taboada via Patentpractice wrote:
>
>  DOGE switched the USPTO to a minute-based calling plan to save money 
> and this is happening to employees that have hit their monthly minute 
> allotment.
>
> *From:*Patentpractice <patentpractice-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com> *On 
> Behalf Of *Carl Oppedahl via Patentpractice
> *Sent:* Monday, March 10, 2025 3:35 PM
> *To:* For patent practitioners. This is not for laypersons to seek 
> legal advice. <patentpractice at oppedahl-lists.com>
> *Cc:* Carl Oppedahl <carl at oppedahl.com>
> *Subject:* Re: [Patentpractice] Unable to connect to any USPTO phone 
> numbers
>
> On 3/10/2025 1:14 PM, Carl Oppedahl wrote:
>
>     On 3/10/2025 12:49 PM, Michael Dryja via Patentpractice wrote:
>
>         Is anyone having this issue?  As of 11:47 am PT on Monday,
>         March 10, for the past hour when I’ve tried calling any
>         Examiner it either gives me three fast beeps (using my
>         T-Mobile cell phone) or rings and rings and rings and hangs up
>         (using my Phone.com
>         <https://link.edgepilot.com/s/3f20cc65/LKcQSuiBs0mzPIMNg7bmOA?u=http://phone.com/> Voip
>         line).
>
>          - Mike Dryja.
>
>     Yes it's not just you.   I have called an Examiner and the
>     Examiner's SPE.
>
>     From my office phone direct extension, the call to the SPE rings
>     and rings, and clicks to a different ring cadence, (maybe
>     migrating to voice mail?) and then hangs up on me.
>
>     From a personal phone number (VOIP), the call to the SPE rings a
>     while and then says "the number you are calling from has been
>     flagged as spam.  If you believe this to be in error, please press
>     1 to report the problem."  I press 1 and it hangs up on me.
>
>     I call from my cell phone and the recorded message is "the number
>     you have dialed has calling restrictions and so the call cannot go
>     through".  And it hangs up on me.
>
> When I could not get through to the SPE, I dialed the Director of the 
> Tech Center.  Nope.  The call disconnects.
>
> It is impossible to get through on the phone number for Coke Morgan 
> Stewart, the Director of the USPTO.
>
>
>
> Links contained in this email have been replaced. If you click on a 
> link in the email above, the link will be analyzed for known threats. 
> If a known threat is found, you will not be able to proceed to the 
> destination. If suspicious content is detected, you will see a warning.
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://oppedahl-lists.com/pipermail/patentpractice_oppedahl-lists.com/attachments/20250310/47876a9a/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: smime.p7s
Type: application/pkcs7-signature
Size: 4751 bytes
Desc: S/MIME Cryptographic Signature
URL: <http://oppedahl-lists.com/pipermail/patentpractice_oppedahl-lists.com/attachments/20250310/47876a9a/attachment.p7s>