The USPTO offers electronic notification of agency communications, including office actions, via the e-Office Action program. Participants in the e-Office Action program receive an email notification documenting new USPTO communications when they are available in Private PAIR with relevant details about the communication, such as the application number, attorney docket number, the mail date, and the document code for the Office action or notice. The USPTO encourages all patent application filers to sign up for e-Office Action, particularly now, as certain foreign postal operations have experienced delays and/or closures.
If you are not a participant in the e-Office Action program and the correspondence address for your application is located in a country experiencing a closure of postal operations, the Office communications for your application are likely to be returned to the USPTO as being undeliverable. If this is the case, the USPTO will re-mail the returned correspondence in accordance with Manual of Patent Examining Procedure 707.13.
Please note that the e-Office Action program does not apply to Patent Cooperation Treaty international applications under 35 U.S.C. 363 and reexamination proceedings. For these matters, USPTO communications are mailed to the address of record.
For more information, visit the e-Office Action program webpage on the USPTO website.
If you have questions about the e-Office Action program or about how to become a registered user, contact the Patent Electronic Business Center at ebc@uspto.gov or 866-217-9197.