Well, the unspoken thing has just been spoken. “The only other thing I can recommend is just use [Microsoft] Word.”
It will be recalled (yesterday’s blog article) that yesterday I tried to use Patent Center to efile a new US nonprovisional patent application. And I failed to use Microsoft Word. I used Libre Office. And Patent Center puked on the DOCX file, saying (falsely) that the DOCX file “contains fonts that are not recognized by the system”. Agent AL opened ticket number 2-01001251 and said she would get back to me well in advance of the drop-dead priority date of tomorrow.
That was May 13. The drop-dead priority date is tomorrow, May 15. Today, by noon on May 14, I had not yet heard back from Agent AL. So I called the EBC again, reaching an agent that I will call “Agent JA”. We discussed the problem and his conclusion was:
The only other thing I can recommend is just use [Microsoft] Word.
So what was previously unspoken is what got spoken today — the USPTO only supports patent applications prepared using Microsoft Word.
Agent JA also referred to some unpublished document in which he sees that Patent Center supports different fonts depending on whether the word processing being used is Libre Office or Microsoft Word. He said that the Times New Roman used in Libre Office is different from the Times New Roman used in Microsoft Word. I asked him where this is documented publicly, and he was not able to say where this is documented publicly.
I then escalated to an EBC supervisor. After a long period on hold, I was speaking with a supervisor whom I’ll call “RO”. I asked her whether she concurs in the advice of Agent JA to “just use Microsoft Word”. RO said, and I quote:
I can’t answer yes or no as to whether the USPTO supports Libre Office for filing patent applications.
Supervisor RO said she would try to communicate to the DOCX developers to urge them to get back to me about this Patent Center defect.
This is a comment about another topic and current happening at the USPTO. The USPTO has recently been sending the following or like notices: “INFORMATIONAL NOTICE TO APPLICANT” and/or “NOTICE REQUIRING INVENTOR’S OATH OR DECLARATION” indicating the required oath(s)/declaration(s) have not been filed, even though they have been filed. Why is this happening? It would be wonderful if you could get to the bottom of this. Very frustrating and an incredible inefficient use of time, not to mention the potential charges to the client because of this USPTO error. Thank you.
I was wondering if others were experiencing these extraneous notices. They definitely eat a lot of time trying to get withdrawn.
Check the serial numbers on those communications. I was in a bit of a panic recently when I got notice of a PCT application withdrawn for non-payment of the fees… it turned out that the PTO had somehow managed to create two duplicate applications from my single filing, differing only in the last digit of the serial number (same docket No., applicant, title. etc.) One of them got credited with the filing fees, the other didn’t.
Checking Patent Center would give wildly varying information, depending on what communication was in front you as you entered the serial number. My browser’s auto-fill offering a choice of numbers finally revealed the problem.
For a long time, it’s been “Death, Taxes and Microsoft.”
Now it’s official.
In a way, the USPTO has a point. If Patent Centre also pukes on the application when saved in MS Word, it is not due to the USPTO software not working well with LibreOffice.
The OMB comment period is open for commenting on the DOCX submission requirements. See Federal Register notice 2026-08101 (91 FR 22526). Link: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/04/27/2026-08101/agency-information-collection-activities-submission-to-the-office-of-management-and-budget-for. The comment period closes June 26, 2026.
Thank you. This is very helpful.
Everybody should file a comment in response to this Notice.