Welcome to EFS-Web Training USPTO’s new web-based patent application and document submission solution

Today’s Training Agenda What is EFS-Web EFS-Web Support System Requirements and PDF Creation Overview and Filing Demonstration EFS–Web Demo System Nuances Document Descriptions Extras PDF Fillable Forms Questions and Answers United States Patent and Trademark Office

United States Patent and Trademark Office What can be filed? New Applications New Utility Provisional Design with Color Drawings 371 National Stage Follow-on submissions associated with an Application Document Description List Over 80 document descriptions – Amendments, Petitions, Board of Appeals Documents, Non-Patent Literature, Foreign References Cited, Application Data Sheet, Information Disclosure Statement, etc. Numerous Fees Filing Fees Extensions of Time Petition Fees United States Patent and Trademark Office

United States Patent and Trademark Office What cannot be filed? Credit Card Authorization Form - PTO-2038 Text files (Fall 2006) Bio. Sequence Listings Computer Program Listings Text Tables PCT International Applications (Fall 2006) Maintenance Fees New Plant Applications or Color Plant Drawings Documents related to Registration Practice & Disciplinary Proceedings Certified Copies (Ribbon Copies) Reexamination and Reissue Secrecy Order Applications and/or Documents Contested Cases at Board of Appeal and Interferences Third party papers under 37 CFR 1.99 Protests under 37 CFR 1.291 Public use hearing papers under 37 CFR 1.292 United States Patent and Trademark Office

Who Can Submit Patent Applications and Documents Unregistered Filers Anyone who visits EFS-Web can submit patent applications Patent attorneys, patent agents, paralegals, legal secretaries, pro se filers A customer number is NOT required for submissions Registered Filers Those who obtain a Digital Certificate in advance from USPTO’s Electronic Business Center (EBC) United States Patent and Trademark Office

EFS-Web Functionality Online submission of PDF files of patent applications and documents Verifies and validates PDF files & data before submission Online payment of patent application and document filing fees Provides a valid acknowledgement receipt that is the equivalent of a Post Card receipt Speeds access to submission via Private PAIR United States Patent and Trademark Office

EFS-Web Support USPTO’s new web-based patent application and document submission solution

Monday – Friday (6am – Midnight EST) Electronic Business Center (EBC) Electronic Filing System PKI Certificates/Digital Certificates Patent Application Information Retrieval Customer Number Monday – Friday (6am – Midnight EST) Phone: 1-866-217-9197 / 571-272-4100 * Select option 2 Fax: 571-273-0177 Email: EBC@uspto.gov United States Patent and Trademark Office

Customer Number and PKI Certificate Customer Number used for indicating Correspondence Address for applications Required to view applications in private PAIR access PKI used for private PAIR access and Registered EFS-Web filing Applications associated to Customer Number Attorney Registration Number associated to Customer Number(s) PKI Certification links Registration Number and Customer Number Provides EFS-Web full functionality to eFiler United States Patent and Trademark Office

Legal Notes Digital Certificate Subscriber Agreement Certificate Sharing Legal personnel working under the direction and control of a Digital Certificate holder my file if they provide name and email address Upcoming Enhancements Solution for corporate sharing of workload related to patent filing and viewing See EFS-Web Legal Framework for more information United States Patent and Trademark Office

United States Patent and Trademark Office Legal Notes Paying Fees and Your Protection The USPTO has noticed that some users are attaching the PTO-2038 form as a PDF along with their EFS-Web submission. Please be advised that this is not recommended and by doing so your credit card information may be displayed via PAIR. To protect your information, we recommend paying fees online by using the electronic payment method or attaching a fee sheet. PTO-2038 should only be faxed or mailed to the USPTO. Questions? Contact the Electronic Business Center 1-866-217-9197 United States Patent and Trademark Office

System Requirements and PDF Creation USPTO’s new web-based patent application and document submission solution

Contact your IT department for additional assistance System Requirements Supported Operating Systems: Windows 2000, XP Macintosh OSX 10.4 Linux RedHat 9.0 Standard eCommerce Settings & Environment: Networks and Firewall Infrastructures MUST allow communication via HTTPS/SSLv3 or TLSv1 Workstations MUST run a supported version of Java Runtime Environment Software Supported Browsers: Internet Explorer 5.5, 6.0 Netscape Navigator 7.x Apple Safari 2.0 Mozilla 1.7.3 Browser Settings: Browsers must accept cookies Must enable java scripting Must accept Entrust security applets Firewalls must not strip packet header content Browsers must support HTML frames Contact your IT department for additional assistance United States Patent and Trademark Office

United States Patent and Trademark Office About PDF Files PDF Writers that have been preliminarily tested by USPTO: ABXPDF (no configuration required, available free on www.USPTO.gov) Adobe Professional Open Office Easy Office Cute PDF PDF 995 Primo PDF Amyuni PDF Converter Pro PDF United States Patent and Trademark Office

United States Patent and Trademark Office About PDF Files Document Format Standard 8 1/2” x 11” A4 (21 cm. by 29.7 cm) Larger pages will be reduced to 8 1/2 x 11 Versions 1.1 – 1.6 of the PDF Specification Fonts Must be embedded to ensure they travel with the document All fonts must be licensed and legally embeddable PDF If the fonts are embedded, they become part of the PDF document. Whenever the PDF document is viewed or printed, the embedded fonts are used. By using embedded fonts, the author ensures that the document will display and print exactly as it was intended. United States Patent and Trademark Office

PDF Files Should Not Have: 3D models or Layers Will be flattened and lose content Color Images Except drawings in Design applications Images below the recommended 300 dpi Attachments (sound, movie files, viruses, etc.) Password Security Security performed by PKI Dependencies on external files or programs United States Patent and Trademark Office

United States Patent and Trademark Office Validation Warnings Page size is not 8 ½ by 11 inches or A4 Non-licensed fonts An ADS or IDS is attached that is not an USPTO fillable form An USPTO ADS or IDS Fillable form that is missing data from key fields Two or more files with the same name United States Patent and Trademark Office

United States Patent and Trademark Office Validation Errors Secure file (password encrypted) Non-embedded fonts Any version of PDF that is not supported (below 1.1) PDF containing OLE (object linking and embedding) files Not a PDF file type File size over 25MB (except USPTO fillable forms) United States Patent and Trademark Office

Sign all documents according to 37CFR 1.4 Legal Notes Signature Requirements PDF created by Scanning - You may print documents, wet sign and scan them back in as a PDF file - You may scan in an image of a signature and insert the signature into a PDF file PDF created by Printing/Converting - Enter your electronic signature into a document and then print/convert to PDF file USPTO Fillable Form - Enter your electronic signature into the signature field(s) in the form Signature Examples 1) General Format: /Jane Doe/ 2) Registered Attorney: /Jane Doe/ Jane Doe Jane Doe 99,999 Sign all documents according to 37CFR 1.4 See Page 11 of EFS-Web Legal Framework for more information United States Patent and Trademark Office

EFS-Web Overview USPTO’s new web-based patent application and document submission solution

How EFS-Web Works User Accesses USPTO Portal Access EFS-Web As Unregistered Filer Authenticate as Registered Choose Filing Type New Application Design Utility Provisional 371 Existing Application Saved Package Last 20 EFS receipts Enter Key Patent Application Data (New Only) Attach PDF Files Upload and Validate Calculate Fees (Optional) Submit Pay Fees Via RAM Interface Access Filing in Private PAIR (Registered Filer Only) Receive Acknowledgement Receipt Choose Payment Options United States Patent and Trademark Office

EFS-Web Demo USPTO’s new web-based patent application and document submission solution

United States Patent and Trademark Office Demo Scenarios Registered eFiler Follow-on filing Fillable Form Multi-doc Amendment Review submission in Private PAIR United States Patent and Trademark Office

United States Patent and Trademark Office Legal Notes Acknowledgement Receipt Electronic equivalent of an express mail receipt for the submission – Official Filing receipt will still be sent by US postal service Receipt date is based on Eastern Time (ET) Provides: - Receipt Date which establishes the Filing Date - Application Number and confirmation number - EFS ID (unique identifier of the submission to assist in support) - Bibliographic data - PDF Filename(s), page count of the file(s), and document description(s) - Fee amount and acknowledgement of payment United States Patent and Trademark Office

United States Patent and Trademark Office Legal Notes Post Submission Procedures Fee Payment - Pay applicable fees for new applications before midnight Eastern Time of the date of filing without penalty Missing Parts - Registered users can file missing parts within the same day as follow-on documents - Will not be considered late - Will not require a late/missing surcharge in certain situations Amending Parts/Corrections - Express Abandonment - May request refund for certain fees United States Patent and Trademark Office

EFS-Web Indexing USPTO’s new web-based patent application and document submission solution

Indexing of EFS-Web Submission Indexing is applying a document description to a PDF File or a page range in a PDF File All PDF Files or documents in a multi-document PDF File must be indexed There are over 80 document descriptions offered in EFS-Web All indexing is checked by USPTO personnel Indexing has no legal relationship to the patent application, indexing is an administrative act for processing the submission United States Patent and Trademark Office

Indexing of EFS-Web Submission Why index? Allows for quicker and more accurate downstream processing of your submission – Documents are instantly routed to the Image File Wrapper – Un-indexed documents would have to put the submission in a temporary storage – Generates work flow and assigns the submission to USPTO personnel to be acted upon How do I index? Choose a document description from the drop down list Categories are used in assisting in finding the document description – Filter the document descriptions into frequently used groups United States Patent and Trademark Office

Common Indexing Scenario: New Application Filing (Utility) New Utility Oath or Declaration (USPTO Form SB01A) Specification Claims Abstract Drawings United States Patent and Trademark Office

Common Indexing Scenario: New Application Filing (Utility) These documents are often included in a new application: Transmittal Letter (Cover Letter; USPTO Form SB05; PTO-1390) Drawings Information Disclosure Statement (USPTO Form SB08A & SB08B) Foreign Patent References Non-Patent Literature Documents Application Data Sheet (USPTO Form SB014) Fee Sheet (Using the “Calculate Fee” and “Pay Fees” Tabs in EFS-Web will generate, fill out and index the document correctly; USPTO Form SB017) Foreign Priority (Cannot be filed in EFS-Web as it must be a ribbon-copy) Incoming Specification - Not in English Power of Attorney (USPTO Form SB81; PTO/SB/80) United States Patent and Trademark Office

Common Indexing Scenario: Amendments Amendment type Amendment after Non-Final Amendment after Notice of Allowance (Rule 312) Preliminary Amendment Amendment after Final Amended application part (i.e. Specification, Claims, Abstract, Drawings) Applicant’s Arguments/Remarks made in an Amendment United States Patent and Trademark Office

United States Patent and Trademark Office Indexing Help Complete, sort-able List of Document Descriptions: http://www.uspto.gov/ebc/portal/infodocuments.htm Help page “How to Index my Documents”: http://www.uspto.gov/ebc/portal/beta/rules_doc_codes.htm United States Patent and Trademark Office

United States Patent and Trademark Office PDF Files: Multi-Doc A multi-doc PDF is a single file that contains more than one document description Each document section must begin on a new page United States Patent and Trademark Office

United States Patent and Trademark Office PDF Files: Multi-Doc A multi-doc PDF is a single file that contains more than one document description Each document section must begin on a new page Page ranges must be entered for each section United States Patent and Trademark Office

PDF Fillable Forms USPTO’s new web-based patent application and document submission solution

PDF Fillable Form Features Enhanced to interface with EFS-Web No special software required Dynamic capability to add data PDF Fillable Form Save form electronically with data embedded Print forms with data entered by the user Re-open the saved form to modify existing data Import data in XML format from multiple sources Export data in XML format to document management systems and other databases United States Patent and Trademark Office

United States Patent and Trademark Office Fillable Forms enabled for EFS-Web Information Disclosure Statement (IDS – 37 CFR 1.97 & 1.98) Listing all U.S. patents and U.S. publications Foreign patent documents and non-patent literature (NPL) Updates current form SB 08a/b Application Data Sheet (ADS – 37 CFR 1.76) New Utility, Provisional, Design & 371 National Stage Contains Bibliographic Data New to USPTO Updates current form SB 14 New Forms in Fall 2006 Petition to Accept Unintentionally Delayed Payment of Maintenance Fee in an Expired Patent (37CFR 1.378(c)) Request for Continuing Examination (RCE) United States Patent and Trademark Office

United States Patent and Trademark Office Technical Requirements Adobe Reader 7.0 is Required Update to version 7.0.8 for optimal performance How to check the version: - Select Help - About Adobe Reader Updating 6.0 and below will only update that version Must uninstall old version then install Adobe Reader 7.0 United States Patent and Trademark Office

United States Patent and Trademark Office Form Nuances Optimum performance with latest Adobe 7.0.8 version with form version 1.0.1 Title of Invention and Inventor Name character limitation Special characters such as ©, ®, ™, ß, ë, µ, Ü, ñ, etc can be entered but translation errors may occur Auto load can fail if: Blank Applicant sections are created Continuity Type is not selected Continuity Type, Prior Application Number, and Filing Date are not entered in the Continuity Statement United States Patent and Trademark Office

United States Patent and Trademark Office Questions and Answers United States Patent and Trademark Office

Electronic Business Center (EBC) If you have questions or need technical assistance please contact our: Electronic Business Center (EBC) Monday – Friday (6am – Midnight EST) Phone: 1-866-217-9197 / 571-272-4100 * Select option 2 Fax: 571-273-0177 Email: EBC@uspto.gov United States Patent and Trademark Office

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