The USPTO's computer systems are just that - a collection of different systems. Some of these systems talk to each other, i.e. are linked together and share data more fully than others systems talk to each other. Among these different systems are separate public databases for patents (searchable by multiple search terms back to 1976, and for patents before them by issue date, patent number, and current US classification only) and published patent applications, the "public" Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system, the "private" PAIR system (which is really a public system that contains additional information only visible to certain individuals associated with a particular patent application), the Electronic Filing System (EFS), the electronic payment system, the searchable assignments database, and the assignment submission system. There are also systems used by and accessible only to USPTO personnel.
In some cases, there are one or more systems hidden from public view that power other systems. Last August, a breakdown in one of those back-end systems resulted in a multiple-day outage of multiple computer systems at the USPTO, including both PAIR systems, EFS, and systems used by examiners to search and examine applications.
To eliminate some of this and to make things smoother, the USPTO is in the process of moving to a new system which will integrate more functionalities. Sort of like what WIPO's ePCT system does, which allows patent applicants and their agents to file and pay fees in new applications, to preview what documents will look like before they're uploaded, and to check the status and review all documents in a particular patent application. But before it does this, it decided to implement an interim system. (Think of a bypass road built for use only while construction of a new overpass on the main road is being built.) This interim system, called my.uspto.gov, uses a single login to access the existing private PAIR, EFS, and online payment functions.
The USPTO rolled out my.uspto.gov gradually this past fall, requiring users to "migrate" their old authentication method - called "PKI certificates" - to my.uspto.gov, and announced that as of February 15, 2019, users would no longer be able to login using their PKI certificates.
Then this week, users found themselves unable to login via my.uspto.gov, receiving the following message:
When confronted with this, yours truly went back to his PKI certificate. But what to do if my.uspto.gov wasn't up and running by February 15? Sure, many responses could still be filed, and many fees paid, by fax. But certain documents can only be filed electronically, by US Postal Service Express Mail, or by hand at the USPTO drop-off window. And certain fees are reduced for electronic filing. In the wake of last summer's computer outage, the USPTO announced that it would in some cases allow retroactive payment at the reduced rate, but who wants to be at the whim of USPTO magnanimity for fee reductions?
Apparently someone at the USPTO noticed this problem, and thus on February 12 posted the following announcement:
That's fine for now, but what will happen once the USPTO actually retires the PKI system and my.uspto.gov crashes again?
I note that when the Israel PTO moved to electronic filing - which it forced upon all practitioners and corporate applicants to the exclusion of paper or fax filing - it asserted that it would post announcements when the electronic filing system was down, thereby temporarily relieving practitioners of the requirement to file electronically. To the best of my knowledge, despite many glitches in the system, not once has the ILPTO posted such an announcement.