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USPTO is planning to automate the following administrative tasks through Private PAIR 1) New Customer Number Request, 2) Change Correspondence/Maintenance Fee Address, 3) Change Entity Status. Would you find these new functionalities beneficial? Please share what other routine tasks you would like to see automated.

Need to be able to search the text of an Office Action and all other documents mailed by the USPTO.

Would you prefer filing text-based PDF documents (contain searchable text), instead of image-based PDF documents?

If there is an online chat available to communicate with the Patent Electronic Business Center, would you use it?

Preparing an ADS is simply a pain. Even worse is preparation of an ADS with corrections. It would be easier if there was some way to either correct or modify an ADS from EFS or at least provide a way to use underline and strikethrough on the ADS fillable form.

In addition to being notified of new outgoing correspondence, would you like to be notified when there is other activity on an application – either via email or possibly within PAIR? Please share what other types of activities you are interested in receiving notification.

The format used for application numbers, dates and patent documents are inconsistent in PAIR, assignments, EFS, etc.. All areas of the office should utilize the same format for this data, or the software should be modernized to accept all of the common formats. e.g., 14/999,999 and 14999999 or

2015-01-23 and 1/23/2015 and 01/23/2015 etc.

eMod is planning to automate many data entry tasks when filing a new patent application via Patent Center. On the initial step of the filing process, we are proposing the option to allow users to upload their completed ADS, and have the system extract the required basic information automatically. Would you like this feature? Please see the mock-ups in the attachments section below or at the links listed, and share your... more »

When paying PTO fees, we have to re-enter the credit card info, address, etc., separately for each filing. Why not enable registered filers to save the credit card info under a login name and password so that multiple filings could be paid for without repeated entries of personal info.

It would be very helpful if the patent expiration date was visible on PAIR, perhaps in the Application Data tab.

Currently, if you discover that you have made a typo or checked a wrong box in the first part of a new application filing, there seems to be no way to go back and fix it without losing all of your uploads. You should be able to edit and fix these things easily at least prior to actual submission.

Eliminate the digital certificates and Entrust Java applets in favor of using modern two-factor authentication methods. Here is a good blog post explaining why. http://blog.oppedahl.com/?p=226 Another reason to get rid of the Entrust java system is that many browsers will stop supporting plugins like java that are required for the entrust system to work. For example, Chrome will disable support for the java plugin in... more »

The USPTO is enhancing the Issue Fee Transmittal (85b) submission process in EFS-Web, by using a web-based form. What do you like or dislike about the current Issue Fee Payment process?

We would love to have the ability to search our entire patent portfolio to get a snapshot of ongoing matters. Of course, having criteria in place to filter (narrow or expand) search results would be useful. In addition, having the option to generate reports in different formats (xls, pdf, etc.) would be another useful option for applicants (large and small).

The eMod team is looking into ways to update the authentication process, while still maintaining useful features (i.e. multiple users accessing a single account or one user accessing multiple accounts). What do you like/dislike about the current identity authentication process?