Patent and Trademark Office April 5, 2023 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) will begin transitioning to the Patent Center Electronic Office (e-Office) Action program upon publication of this notice. The Patent Center e-Office Action program is designed to modernize the e-Office action process and further streamline the USPTO's service delivery processes. Implementation of the Patent Center e-Office Action program is another step in the USPTO's transition to Patent Center, a more modern, user-friendly system that provides improved system performance and a more intuitive user experience. Once fully implemented, the Patent Center e-Office Action program will replace the existing e- Office Action program available to users of the Private Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. In addition, the Patent Center e-Office Action program offers a new option for users to receive courtesy postcards by email (e-postcards) as a reminder that there are available USPTO communications that have not been viewed or downloaded. The USPTO is implementing the e-postcard option based on feedback from customers, particularly to reduce paper consumption and mitigate the impact of potential postal delays. Through this notice, the USPTO seeks public comments on eliminating the postal postcard for all Patent Center e-Office Action program users in the future. As with the existing program, participation in the Patent Center e-Office Action program is optional.