Last week the United States federal government entered a shutdown, suspending services not exempted by the Antideficiency Act, 31 U.S.C. § 1341. Although the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office currently remains open, the Copyright Office is among the many closed government offices.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

The USPTO remains open, operating on reserve fees collected in the past year. The USPTO has indicated that it can operate on reserve fees for approximately four weeks.  Hopefully, we may not see any service interruptions or, at least, not before the end of the month.

Should reserve fees be depleted before the shutdown ends, the Department of Commerce "Plan for Orderly Shutdown" provides that a small staff will continue to work "to ensure the functionality of the processes and systems minimally necessary" to preserve patent and trademark rights.  While it is not clear exactly what "minimally necessary" services this would entail, the plan explicitly provides that electronic filing and payment systems should remain open during any closure of the USPTO.

U.S. Copyright Office

Currently, the Copyright Office is closed.  During this time, registration submissions will be accepted both by mail and through the online system for purposes of securing a filing date, however, they will not be processed.  Electronic records are available for searching and viewing but are not being updated during the shutdown.

Additionally, for some period of time since the shutdown began, online access to Copyright Office information circulars and factsheets was unavailable.  As of posting, access has been  restored.

Recommendations

We recommend clients not delay any filings with the Copyright Office because there may be a growing backlog for processing materials when the office reopens.  With respect to the USPTO, we also recommend that clients not delay filings when possible, so as to get ahead of any possible service interruptions.  In the event that the USPTO reserves are depleted, we will provide updates on continuing services.

For further information visit Waller TIPS blog

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