eCommerce Modernization Ideas

We are submitting a new application and we uploaded the USPTO ADS form into Patent Center. Out of all the documents you load for a new application the ADS is one of the most important documents to view before submitting, but you are not able to view it. You must download all documents to be able to see the ADS as it was loaded. This is a bit cumbersome. We have our paralegals load the documents to Patent Center and then... more »

One of our listserv members reports: I just tried to file an application in Patentcenter. I always use the PTO's fillable-PDF PTO/AIA/14, and I checked that the one I used today is the latest one (02-18). After having uploaded the completed ADS (with no errors reported by Patentcenter) and gone through uploading/categorizing the rest of the application documents, I saw that the final screen with the "submit" button showed... more »

One of our listserv members reports, A Filer uses "Uploaded ADS" and uploads the ADS and uploads all of the other documents for a new patent application. Filer then discovers there is a mistake in the ADS. Filer goes back to the front of the filing screens. Filer clicks to delete the ADS. Filer gets a warning: Removing this application data sheet will result in all previously entered bibliographic data being removed.... more »

In the Web ADS Inventors section for new application submissions, in the Representative section, there is a dropdown box allowing selection of a customer number. Please augment the bare customer numbers with the customer number name(s) as is currently shown in EFS-web.

One of our listserv members says: Patentcenter should check to see whether the filer failed to check at least one "excuse" box in the non-inventor applicant section of the computer-readable Form PTO/AIA/14.

When a filer uploads Form PTO/AIA/14 (Application Data Sheet), Patentcenter should carry out validations. As mentioned in other submissions, Patentcenter should validate priority claims against DAS.

When a filer... more »

The last update to the Application Data Sheet (aia/0014) broke the XML import/export functionality. Please bring that back.

One of our listserv members suggests: Patentcenter should check an uploaded ADS for a signature.

When an ADS turns out to be unsigned, or not correctly signed, or not signed by a practitioner, it leads to a cascade of problems. It often takes months or a lot of money, or both, to fix the problems. It would be trivially easy for Patentcenter to check an uploaded computer-readable Form PTO/AIA/14 (Application Data Sheet)... more »

In the Web ADS Inventors section for new submissions, there is an "Edit new inventor" dialog box that allows an existing inventor to be edited. I recommend adding a "Save as new inventor" button to this dialog box, which will facilitate entry of additional inventors who share some or all of the Name, Residence, and Mailing address info as an already entered inventor.

When filling in any fillable fields in Patent Center's web-based forms, there is a 50 character limit. Some of the companies for which I file applications have company name lengths longer than 50 characters, so I cannot use many of the web fillable forms (ADS, Issue Fee payment forms, etc.) any time I would have to type the company name into these online forms, for example as the Applicant name, or assignee name. Instead,... more »