United States Patent and Trademark Office OG Notices: 24 August 2004
Disconnection of Voice Response Systems for
Deposit Account and Patent Maintenance Fee Information
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
established a telephone Voice Response System (VRS) in 1996 to provide
customers with automated deposit account information. The VRS was later
expanded in 1999 to provide automated patent maintenance fee
information.
In 1999, the USPTO enhanced the Office of Finance website by
making the same deposit account information available to customers as
the VRS (e.g., current balance, recent activity, etc.). More recently,
in June 2004, the Office of Finance website was enhanced to provide
detailed patent maintenance fee information that was only available on
the VRS (e.g., maintenance fee payment history information, current
entity status, payment due dates, etc.). Customers can obtain deposit
account and patent maintenance fee information as well as process
transactions on the Office of Finance website at
https://ramps.uspto.gov/eram/. Additionally, patent
maintenance fee information can also be obtained on the USPTO PAIR
website at http://pair.uspto.gov.
The existing VRS hardware and software have become increasingly
obsolete and subject to downtime. As the same information provided on
the VRS can now be obtained at the Office of Finance website, the USPTO
will be disconnecting the VRS phone numbers (703-306-4227 and 4228,
703-308-5036 and 5037, 703-308-5392 and 5393) effective September 24,
2004.
Questions regarding deposit accounts should be directed to the
Deposit Account Branch at (703) 305-4631. Questions regarding patent
maintenance fees should be directed to the Maintenance Fee Branch at
(703) 308-5068. Questions concerning this notice should be directed to
Matthew Lee by facsimile at (703) 308-6778, or by e-mail at
matthew.lee@uspto.gov.
July 26, 2004 MICHELLE PICARD
Director, Office of Finance