[Patentpractice] Guest and unregistered users will no longer be able to access Patent Center effective 09/11/2025

[Patent Lawyer]

I already had an ID.me account for something else (not the PTO).

So I went to PatentCenter and clicked on the ID.me button, and the next thing I was asked to log in to my ID.me account.  

ID.me asked how I wanted my 2FA handled (I had previously set this up with ID.me to receive a text message on my phone, but I may have other options).  

So ID.me sent a 6-digit login code by text message to my phone and authenticated my login to ID.me.
Then, ID.me asked some questions, and it connected my ID.me account to my PatentCenter login.

And then ID.me sent me a text message to my phone saying, 
"you successfully signed into USPTO on Sep 05, 2025. If this wasn't you reply N"

Why am I telling you this whole process of my ID.me login getting authenticated?

Because ID.me used a text message sent to my phone for the second authentication (of the 2FA).

But isn't the reason for this mess and why we have to jump through the ID.me hoops because the PTO has dropped text-to-your-phone as an acceptable method of 2FA?

So, texting a six-digit number to my phone is not secure enough as the 2FA for logging in to the US PTO.  It was so bad that it had to be stopped.  But texting a six-digit number to my phone is secure enough as the 2FA for ID.me, which is linked to my US PTO account.

Now, some may argue that ID.me does extra verification of who I am. But I've been registered at the PTO forever. I recall having to submit a notarized form of some sort to the PTO to verify my identity (to get my PTO keys), so the US PTO did extra verification of who I am, just a long time ago.

What does this level of indirection give?   The USPTO “outsources” the risk to ID.me.

To be clear, I’m not arguing that text messages are an acceptable form of 2FA. Maybe they are not (per NIST).   I’m just pointing out an apparent contradiction. 


Sent from my iPhone

> On Sep 6, 2025, at 08:59, Randall Svihla via Patentpractice <patentpractice at oppedahl-lists.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> Hi, Carl
>  
> Yes, I am subscribed to Patent Center, but it seems that all of the emails about this topic went to my Junk Email folder.  I have 67 messages from the listserv in my Junk Email folder since 08/20/2025.  No other email went there.
>  
> I saw it was posted on 09/02 and I was surprised that no one had mentioned it.
>  
> Randall S. Svihla
>  
>  
> From: Carl Oppedahl <carl at oppedahl.com>
> Sent: Saturday, September 6, 2025 4:17 AM
> To: For patent practitioners. This is not for laypersons to seek legal advice. <patentpractice at oppedahl-lists.com>
> Subject: Re: [Patentpractice] Guest and unregistered users will no longer be able to access Patent Center effective 09/11/2025
>  
> Hello Randall.  Are you not subscribed to the Patent Center listserv?  This has been discussed in detail there.   More than 36 postings in the past week.  So much has been said that I cannot readily summarize the dozens of postings in a single email here.  
> 
> Read the notice again and again and you will realize it is so vaguely worded that maybe the affected population includes "both current and future users" and not merely "guest and unregistered users".  
> 
> The notice of course utterly fails to explain how any particular customer of Patent Center might be able to work out whether his or her access will get cut off in five days.  So for example, once you are logged in, you can click on your name in the upper right corner and then click on "account".  
> 
> You might see "PATENT CENTER PROOFED" in all uppercase letters in a blue box.  Or you might not.  
> You might see "IDME VERIFIED" in all uppercase letters in a green box.  Or you might not.  
> No communication from the Patent Center developers has said a word about whether the presence of the blue box means you can relax and your life will not be turned upside-down in five days.
> 
> No communication from the Patent Center developers has said a word about whether the presence of the green box means you can relax and your life will not be turned upside-down in five days.
> 
> For me personally, I have the blue box but not the green box.  At least one member of the Patent Center listserv has both boxes.
> 
> Do you have the blue box?  Do you have the green box?
> 
>   
> 
> On 9/5/2025 9:30 PM, Randall Svihla via Patentpractice wrote:
> Has anyone seen this notice on the USPTO's website?
> https://www.uspto.gov/about-us/news-updates/uspto-implementing-additional-security-measures-patent-center-0 
> Guest and unregistered users will no longer be able to access Patent Center effective 09/11/2025.
> I wonder if they will break anything when they implement this on 09/11/2025. 
> Best regards,
> Randall S. Svihla
> NSIP Law
> Washington, D.C.
> --
> Patentpractice mailing list
> Patentpractice at oppedahl-lists.com
> http://oppedahl-lists.com/mailman/listinfo/patentpractice_oppedahl-lists.com
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