(406) Notice of Potential Exposure of Protected Patent Application Information
Through Patent Center
On August 1, 2024, a stakeholder notified the USPTO that certain
protected information within Patent Center was potentially accessible to
the public, through certain search functions on the Assignments page. That
same day, the assignments functionality within Patent Center was disabled
to prevent any further potential exposure.
By August 2, 2024, upon further investigation, USPTO began the process
to notify potentially impacted applicants, stakeholders, and the public.
The USPTO determined the cause of this issue was an isolated computer
configuration error that impacted unpublished applications that had a
recorded assignment between December 2, 2017, and August 1, 2024.
Specifically, the potentially exposed information from unpublished
applications that had an assignment action included:
* Title of the application
* Application number (the two-digit series code plus the six-digit
serial number)
* Application owner name
* Application filing date
* Name of the inventor and names of any joint inventors
Specifications (including claims and drawings) were not exposed.
Due to the nature and location of the data, and based on the evidence
available, we believe the actual impact to applicants to be minimal. Of all
the potentially exposed applications, we have verified evidence of only one
instance of unauthorized viewing - which was from the individual who
reported the issue to the USPTO in good faith.
Out of an abundance of caution, the USPTO has created a FAQs page to
provide additional information and address issues as they arise, which can
be found here https://www.uspto.gov/about-us/news-updates/potential-
exposure-protected-patent-application-information-through-patent.
Any improper access of the application information between the dates of
December 2, 2017, and August 1, 2024, is not considered a publication of
such applications under 35 U.S.C. 122(b). No rights in United States
patents are threatened by this limited access to unpublished patent
application information. While it is unlikely that the title could disclose
the invention in a way that would constitute patent-defeating prior art in
any jurisdiction, to the extent any issue is raised, the USPTO will assist
applicants by confirming that the disclosure was erroneous and inadvertent.
Public assignments information continues to be available in the
Assignments Search web application. All other systems within Patent Center
were not impacted by this error and are operational.
We are continuing to work through a comprehensive process of tracing and
pressure testing our systems as we work to modernize our IT infrastructure.
We thank you for your time and attention to this matter.
Please direct inquiries on this matter to Mark Polutta, Senior Legal
Advisor, at (571) 272-7709, Kristie Mahone, Senior Legal Advisor, at (571)
272-9016, or Andrew St.Clair, Legal Advisor, at (571) 270-0238, of the
Office of Patent Legal Administration or via email addressed to
Patent.Practice@uspto.gov.
August 15, 2024 JAMIE HOLCOMBE
Chief Information Officer
[1526 OG 228]
Top of Notices (406) December 31, 2024