The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office experienced a serious power outage on December 22, 2015. According to the USPTO, the outage "damaged equipment that required the subsequent shutdown of many of our online and IT systems," including the USPTO's online filing systems."
The outage came at a particularly problematic time for the many patent and trademark applicants who are trying to complete filings via the USPTO's electronic filing systems before the Christmas holiday.
Fortunately, the USPTO is now treating December 22-24, 2015 as a Federal holiday when it receives responses or fees that were due on those days. This means that any fees or responses due on December 22-24 will be considered to be timely if filed by the USPTO's next business day (Monday, December 28).
Note that this notice does not mean that newly filed patent or trademark applications will receive a filing date of December 22 if filed on Monday, December 28. If applicants want an earlier filing date (i.e., December 24), they must file the application by other means, such as a paper filing via USPS Priority Mail Express.
Stay tuned to the USPTO website or Twitter feed for future updates, especially if systems are not operational by December 28.
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