The Israel PTO’s patent electronic filing system went online in December 2015, and its use became mandatory for corporate applicants and legal representatives in June 2016. It was a sub-optimal system at launch, and most of the shortcomings from 2015 remain in place today.
One such shortcoming was the lack of technical assistance. Whereas the USPTO’s Electronic Business Center is open from 06:00-24:00 five days a week, and is staffed by multiple people, the Israel PTO has until now had exactly one person assigned to provide technical support. While she has been extremely helpful, if that person wasn’t available (e.g. if she was on vacation, or had just stepped out for coffee), you were out of luck.
And it goes without saying that that availability does not extend beyond normal working hours. This of is of little help when one is facing a filing deadline after-hours as the clock approaches midnight. Which happens from time-to-time with non-Israeli applicants, most of whom are in time zones west of Israel.
The Israel PTO announced today that the person who has been responsible for EFS technical support is moving back to full-time examiner duties, and that the responsibility for technical support is being transferred to the clerical staff. This is potentially a slight improvement, in that theoretically there will be more people to field questions. But that assumes all of the clerical staff has been trained in the EFS. And even in such a best-case scenario, they don’t work late.
When, oh when, is the Israel PTO going to provide EFS technical support until midnight? Or alternatively, when will it drop the rule insisting on electronic filing?