In a Patent Alert email distributed earlier today, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that beginning on Monday, October 17, 2016, EFS-Web users who wish to use a deposit account or electronic funds transfer account (EFT) to pay fees will be required to use Financial Manager to store and access those payment methods.  The Office noted that as of October 17, deposit accounts and EFTs that are not stored in Financial Manager will no longer be viable payment options for users.

Financial Manager allows users to store and manage different payment methods (e.g., credit or debit cards, deposit accounts, or EFTs) and generate transaction history and monthly statements.  Additional information regarding Financial Manager can be found here.

In announcing the change, the Office also noted that beginning on Monday, September 19, 2016, deposit account customers who are not assigned the Fee Payer permission on a deposit account being used to pay fees will no longer see their name appearing on the list of authorized users.  Users who notice that their name is missing from the list of authorized users for a given deposit account are encouraged to contact their deposit account administrator to have their name added as a Fee Payer before the October 17 deadline.

To help users with the transition, the Office has also made available an "Introduction to the New USPTO Payment Page".

For additional information regarding this topic, please see:

• "USPTO Sets New Deadline for Migration to Financial Manager," July 28, 2016
• "USPTO Extends Deadline for Migration to Financial Manager," July 1, 2016
• "Deadline Approaching to Migrate USPTO Deposit Accounts to Financial Manager," June 28, 2016