The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) experienced a major power outage on Wednesday, December 22. According to the USPTO website, the outage resulted “in damaged equipment that required the subsequent shutdown of many of [its] online and IT systems. This includes … filing, searching, and payment systems, as well as the systems … examiners across the country use.”
On the upside, the USPTO has declared Wednesday, December 22 through Thursday, December 24 as a federal holiday, so any fees or responses that are due on those dates will not be due until the next business day, currently Monday, December 28. It appears that the affected USPTO systems will remain offline until then.
The USPTO is expected to post an update on its operational status on Monday. We will keep you updated here.
Happy Holidays!
** Please note our office will be closed on Thursday, December 24 and Friday, December 25.
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