USPTO launched its “Financial Manager” system about two weeks ago. (At the same time, USPTO permanently shut down the wonderful “Financial Profile” system that had served users well for many years.)
When the Financial Manager (“FM”) system launched two weeks ago, it was connected with one e-commerce system, namely the system for paying patent maintenance fees. I blogged about the new maintenance fee payment system here.
Today the USPTO connected its new FM system to TEAS, the e-filing system for trademark application. I blogged about this new connection here.
This means that trademark filers no longer have to key in an entire credit card number when paying a fee. The filer can simply select the card from a drop-down list of stored payment mechanisms.
Today the USPTO also connected its new FM system to the online ordering system of the Office of Public Records. This ordering system, with the catchy name “OEMS”, now likewise permits you to select a payment mechanism from a stored list. This saves you having to key in detailed credit card information when placing such orders.
I have heard that in about a week, USPTO plans to connect FM to the EFS-Web system.
It’s clear from these developments that we all need to get familiar with FM. Presumably you configured your FM user accounts two weeks ago. But if you have not done so yet, you can visit the Financial Manager setup page to set things up.
Have you used FM? Please post a comment below to let readers know how it went for you.
Used it to pay Section 8 and 15 Declaration fees.
It worked fine.