USPTO Outage Update - 7/22/2024, 7:30 PM

Leadership message

Debbie Matthews headshot, woman with long, blonde hair wearing black blazer and white shirt

Update on IT outage (Monday, 7:30 p.m. ET)

Current status

As of 6 p.m. ET, over 4,700 USPTO computers remain offline due to the faulty CrowdStrike code, with over 800 addressed today.

Onsite assistance

Onsite resolution has moved much more quickly than anticipated and we are able to accommodate significantly more employees. Therefore, if your duty station is within the 50-mile radius of Alexandria headquarters (Remote 50, routine, or situational telework programs, or a non-teleworker assigned to Alexandria), we will have enough capacity to resolve all impacted employees by the end of the day, Tuesday, July 23. Whether you have an appointment or not, you should plan to come to headquarters in Alexandria tomorrow to resolve the issue.

Onsite appointments (for those local to Alexandria, VA): USPTO Onsite Repair booking page

Note, at this time, in-person appointments are not available at any other USPTO locations, including regional offices.

Virtual assistance

Virtual resolution unfortunately has moved significantly slower than anticipated and we have several hundred TEAP employees with appointments that were unable to meet with a technician today.

We are shifting some technicians to increase support for virtual assistance and our goal is to reduce the backlog by 1 p.m. ET tomorrow, July 23. Starting at 1 p.m. tomorrow we will begin accepting new appointments for virtual repair. We appreciate your patience as we work through the virtual appointments.

Virtual appointments (for those outside 50-mile radius of Alexandria):TEAP Virtual Repair booking site.

For detailed information about scheduling in-person appointments for Alexandria vicinity employees and virtual appointments for TEAP employees, please see the guidance posted to the System 411 page on July 22 at 4 p.m. ET.

Timekeeping guidance

Guidance on accounting for time was shared via USPTO Broadcast earlier today, Monday, July 22. Supervisors and managers are being instructed to be flexible in approving outage time to limit negative impacts to employees. Once you regain access to your email, please contact your supervisor if you did not receive the email or have questions.

Scam caution

We understand some employees are being contacted by scammers impersonating IT personnel.

To avoid being scammed, please ask the technician to confirm your workstation ID before proceeding with the call. Our IT technicians will NOT charge you for assistance, so please do not provide payment information.