Patent Office Professional Association

Welcome to POPA’s Official WebSite

Jul 272012

Here you will be able to find out all the latest news and info about POPA – Patent Office Professional Association. Reminder: Every Tuesday from 11am – 1pm there will be Office Hours held in the POPA Office, RND 1D61 or by phone x2-7162. This is where you can meet and discuss your issues with a POPA representative. Note: If the site appears distorted in your version of Internet Explorer, then try using the Compatibility Mode by pressing the button located in between the URL input box and the refresh button. Thank you and sorry for any inconvenience.

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USPTO Automation Systems and Maintenance

May 012013

As with planes, trains and automobiles, automation systems need their routine maintenance too. Bargaining unit members should be aware that normal automation system availability hours in Eastern Standard Time (EST) are : Monday-Thursday: 5:30 am until 12:00 midnight; Friday: 5:30 am until 10:00 pm; and Saturday and Sunday: 9:00 am until 10:00 pm. Hours outside of the above hours are maintenance times. The USPTO uses these overnight times to provide maintenance to automation systems. This maintenance may impact the automation systems which bargaining unit members use to perform their job(s). Advance Service Notices are normally sent out to the Patent

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HEEELLLPPPPP!! My UL/OACS/EAST/WEST/E-DAN….. is having issues :-( .

May 012013

Sorry to hear that ! Unfortunately, if you have a computer or peripheral hardware at some point you will have automation issues and all the frustration that comes with it. CALL the Service Desk (571-272-9000) and GET A TICKET NUMBER.. it is not an exercise in futility. The Service Desk can be the first place where a local or system-wide automation problem is identified. If your problem is not urgent, then E-mail the service/help desk. Do not let the Service Desk close your ticket number until you are satisfied that your issue has been resolved. Call volume (e.g. you are

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Bad News on USPTO Funding and Sequestration

Apr 162013

Dear Bargaining Unit Members, About a week or so ago POPA started hearing rumors that the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) was attempting to mess with USPTO funding by requiring that our sequestration hit be taken off of our fee income rather than our appropriated budget level. I also heard that USPTO management had been put under a “gag order” not to discuss these changes until approved by OMB and Commerce. The rumors also suggested that the sequestered fees would not go into our AIA reserve fund for later availability, but would in fact, not be available

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Email from the Deputy Secretary

Apr 092013

Dear Bargaining Unit Members, If Deputy Secretary Blank could see how many of you read her emails and then emailed POPA for clarification of our award status, I am not sure if she would be honored that y’all read her email or concerned that your questions were directed to POPA, since we seem to be the only serious source of information for employees right now. Just to allay your concerns, awards negotiated by POPA such as our Gainsharing Awards, Special Achievement Awards (SAA), and Docket Management Awards are negotiated contractual awards that the Agency is “legally required” to pay under

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2013-2014 Docket Management and Pendency Award Agreement

Apr 022013

Dear Examiners, As you should have heard by now from Deputy Commissioner Faile’s emails, POPA and the USPTO have reached an agreement on modifications to the PAP Docket Management element and extension of the Pendency Award. Deputy Commissioner Faile and I signed the agreement yesterday and you can find it posted here . The discussions of the USPTO/POPA PAP Task Force over the last several months attempted to address several different issues simultaneously: continuing the Pendency Award for another year with a goal of getting more examiners eligible for the award; providing for a continued 3/6 month docket of work

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Update on Funding

Mar 212013

Dear POPA Bargaining Unit Members, There is some good news and some bad news on the USPTO budget front. If you are following the news, you may be aware that yesterday the Senate passed its version of a Continuing Resolution to fund the Federal government through the end of FY13. The House is likely to pass the Senate version today and send the CR to the President. For the most part, the CR continues to fund the government at FY12 levels and maintains most of the sequester requirements recently set in motion. The good news is that the CR provides

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UPDATE: POPA view of Sequestration and the Fiscal Cliff

Feb 212013

Dear POPA Bargaining Unit Members, Once again, many of you are contacting POPA concerned about the upcoming sequestration deadline. We totally understand and sympathize with your concerns. As I said in my previous post, “It’s sure one crazy way to run a country!” That said, I wanted to let you know that POPA does not currently believe that there have been any significant changes to the information I provided you in the December post. While each passing day suggests that sequestration will, in fact, become a reality, the situation for us here at the USPTO remains essentially the same as

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Quick Automation Update

Jan 102013

All bargaining unit members should be aware of the “Rules of the Road” which govern the use of government equipment at the Alexandria Office, Satellite Offices and alternative work sites. The most recent guidance can currently be found at the CIO’s intranet. The Rules of the Road have been updated in October 2012 and one change in Rule #12, reiterated in part below, is very positive for bargaining unit members participating in the “Patents Telework Program (PTP)”. The change to the Rules of the Road that benefits participants in PTP is that participants are now permitted to connect home use

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POPA’s view of Sequestration and the Fiscal Cliff

Dec 282012

Dear POPA Bargaining Unit Members, A number of you have sent me emails wanting to know if sequestration is going to hurt us here at the USPTO. In particular, I have had several emails recently concerning the possibility of furloughs. While I cannot speak for management or the Dep’t of Commerce, I will tell you what I have heard so far. While the White House through OPM has designated the USPTO to take a $242 Million hit with sequestration, the agency should not feel a practical hit from that cut in funding. That is because the sequestration amount is taken

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What are four things you can do to help relieve holiday stress?

Dec 172012

Let the holidays bring out the best in you—not get the best of you What are four things you can do to help relieve holiday stress? Visit the Spirit page of EAP’s holiday series to find out. Often when we hear “take care of yourself,” we think about the body first, but we shouldn’t forget the mind and spirit, too. Taking a holistic approach to caring for yourself this holiday season—and throughout the year—can really make a difference in your physical, emotional, and psychological well-being. Visit www.FOH.hhs.gov/BEST for other ideas on staying balanced this holiday season and addressing the needs of

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