USPTO postpones again, and lies about, and renames, its “son of EPAS/ETAS”

(Update:  the migration has now been postponed for a third time, see blog article.)

It’s embarrassing to see the USPTO lying about what it previously said about when it would launch its “son of EPAS/ETAS” system. 

Today the USPTO said this:

As part of our efforts to improve our services and strengthen the customer experience, as previously announced, on January 22, 2024, Assignment Center will replace the Electronic Patent Assignment System (EPAS) and Electronic Trademark Assignment System (ETAS).

(screen shot quoted above.)  It is simply false for the USPTO to say today, that what it “previously announced” was a launch date of January 22, 2024.  If you click on the link, you will reach (quoted at right) what purports to be a press release on the USPTO’s web site dated November 9, 2023.  But the USPTO faked it.  What the USPTO really said on November 9, 2023 is:

As part of our updates to online services, The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is reforming the Electronic Trademark Assignment System (ETAS) and the Electronic Patent Assignment System (EPAS) into one cohesive and modernized system:  the Intellectual Property Assignment System (IPAS).  IPAS will be available to customers starting on January 15, 2024.

What happened is that today, January 11, 2024, the USPTO replaced the November 9, 2023 press release with a backdated fake.  The USPTO now pretends that what it said on November 9 was that the launch date would be January 22, when what the USPTO actually said on November 9 was that the launch date would be January 15.  You can see, quoted at right, what the USPTO actually said on November 9, 2023.

I guess this seven-day postponement of the launch date is so embarrassing to the USPTO that it actually lies about what it previously said about the launch date.

The backdated fake also pretends that on November 9, 2023 the name of the new system was supposedly “Assignment Center”.  But on November 9, 2023 the name of the new system was a four-letter initialism IPAS (“Intellectual Property Assignment System”).

This is not, however, the first postponement of the launch date of this “son of EPAS/ETAS” system.  On October 31, 2023, the USPTO originally announced (screen shot at right) that the launch date would be December 4, 2023.

The USPTO says:

Starting January 22, how-to guides, training materials, and a set of frequently asked questions will be available on the Assignment Center webpage.

USPTO says it plans to shut down the EPAS and ETAS systems at the same time that it launches the successor system.  This means that if there are any defects or bugs in the new system, users will not be able to work around the defects and bugs by e-filing in the legacy systems.  And this means that if there are any problems with the user interface design that make it difficult or impossible to figure out how to accomplish particular tasks, users will not have had any opportunity to work them out ahead of time.  Instead, the “how-to guides” and “training materials” and “set of frequently asked questions” will be withheld from users until the actual launch date.

Conspicuous by its absence in USPTO’s press releases and announcements is any hint or suggestion that any effort was made to ask users whether there was even a problem for which this new system is supposedly the solution.  I am not aware of any user having asked for the USPTO to shut down the legacy systems or to replace them with a new and different system.  The USPTO did not, for example, reach out to the practitioner community to find out what new features the practitioner community actually wants for this new system.  The USPTO did not, for example, reach out to the practitioner community to find out what was supposedly wrong with EPAS or ETAS that supposedly needed fixing.  The USPTO did not share initial user interface designs or mock-ups with the practitioner community.  The USPTO did not conduct any external-user alpha testing or beta testing.

Perhaps this second postponement of the launch date of the new system will permit the USPTO to squeeze in at least a little bit of meaningful customer involvement.  In the time between today (January 11) and the again-postponed launch date (January 22), perhaps the USPTO can:

• • get in touch with actual users to provide a beta testing opportunity;
  • get in touch with actual users to find out if there are things wrong with EPAS/ETAS that need fixing in AC;  and
  • get in touch with actual users to find out what actual users would like to see in AC.

There is no doubt that the members of the Patent Center listserv and the members of the e-Trademarks listserv would be willing, and indeed eager, to assist the USPTO with these three things.