The Future of Electronic Filing at the United

The Future of Electronic Filing at the United States Patent and Trademark Office Presented by: William Stryjewski e. Commerce Division SIRA, USPTO June, 2005 1

Why e. Filing? Problem • The continued growth in USPTO workload cannot be effectively managed in the current paper-based environment. FY 2006 Goal: 10% of Patent Applications filed via EFS Solution • Implementation of an e. Government strategy that includes electronic – – receipt, processing, reporting, and Publication 21 st Century Strategic Plan 2

History of e. Filing • EFS Pilot Program established in 1999 • e. Pave began receiving submissions in 1999 • Began receiving PASAT submissions in 2000 • • • EFS Production Release occurred in October 2000 EFS gained two more submission types in 2001 Supported ability to file e. IDS’s in May 2002 Annex F Compliant in January 2003 Pilot 11/02 e. Phoenix (aka Image File Wrapper or IFW) • IFW in Production in July 2003 • e. PAVE interface updated May 2004 • PASAT replaced with EFS-ABX August 2004 3

e. Filing Today • USPTO Supplied Software, EFS-ABX & e. PAVE allow Applicants to e. File: – New Utility Patent Applications – Provisional Patent Applications – Pre-Grant Publications – Electronic Assignments – Information Disclosure Statements – CRF Bio-Sequence Listings 4

EFS-Web • Why Web? Why Now? – USPTO Software and File Format unfamiliar and difficult to work with – Low e. Filing volume – e-Filing Forum Feedback • Make it Simple • Make it Safe • Make it Happen – Other Successful USPTO Web Initiatives – Align with USPTO Future Initiatives 5

EFS-Web: Timeline • September 2004 – First e-Filing Forum • March 2005 – e-Filing Forum Returns to Discuss Scope, Focus, & Direction • May 25, 2005 – e-Filing Forum to new audience • July 21, 2005 – Docketing System Meeting (tentative) • Winter 2005 – Deploy Beta Version • Spring 2006 – Deploy Production Version 6

EFS-Web: e-Filer Experience • EFS-Web Will Provide Choices and Options to the e-Filer to Match Their Business Processes and Environments Multiple PDF Creation Tools Multiple Authoring Tools Multiple Browsers & Operating Systems 7

EFS-Web: e-Filer Authoring Experience • Specifications, Drawings, and Forms May be Created With a Variety of Commercially Purchased Products, as Well as With Freeware / Shareware Available on the Internet • Your Software, Your Format User defined format and content for PDF File Creation 8

EFS-Web: e-Filer PDF Creation Experience • Preliminary USPTO Standard: – Licensed & Embedded Fonts – PDF Version X. X and Higher Compatible – No Password Encryption – No Virus or Embedded Code – No Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) • Sound, Movies, Executables Any PDF Authoring Tool That Can Conform to USPTO Defined PDF Standard USPTO PDF Standard 9

EFS-Web: e-Filer Browser Experience • E-Filer Connects to Internet Using Their Existing Browser – Simple – Safe & – Secure • Compatible With Multiple Web Browsers and Operating Systems – Internet Explorer, – Mozilla Firefox, Safari – Mac, Windows, UNINetscape, EFS Web Sign on 10

EFS-Web: e-Filer Security Experience • Low Level Security = Simple SSL Connection • High Level Security = USPTO Issued PKI Certificate Low Level Security for Initial Filings High Level Security for Initial Filings and Follow-on Papers EFS Web e-File 11

EFS-Web: e-Filer Web Filing Experience • EFS-Web Will Provide an Intuitive and User Friendly Interface to Facilitate the e-Filing Experience • Simple Steps Lead to Successful e. Filing Sign On Select Filing Type Enter Basic Bibliographic Data Attach PDF Files/Forms Pay Fees e-File Obtain e-Filing Acknowledgement Receipt Private PAIR 12

New Submission with Low Level Sign-In 13

Enter Application Information 14

Attach and Review Documents 15

Pay Fees Associate with New Filing 16

Confirm and Submit 17

Acknowledgement Receipt (New Application Filing) 18

Follow-On Submission Using Digital Certificate 19

Review Application Information and Attach Documents 20

Pay Fees Associated with New Filing 21

Confirm and Submit 22

Save Submission 23

Acknowledgement Receipt (Follow-On Submission) 24