What is MYUSPTO sponsorship?
Sponsorship allows patent practitioners to designate others to work on their behalf. When a MyUSPTO user has been sponsored, they have access to your Patent Center and EFS accounts. This replaces the old approach of giving paralegals your digital certificate and password to log in on your behalf. Now, only person's directly sponsored by you can access your information.
Cut to the chase, I just want instructions on enabling sponsorship.
Click here for full instructions.
Do I have to sponsor AppColl to continue using my account?
Absolutely not. This is purely an optional feature just like adding your digital certificate to your AppColl account.
Why would I want to sponsor AppColl?
Sponsorship allows you to update your matters from Patent Center while in AppColl. AppColl can retrieve documents from Patent Center account as described here.
What's the difference between sponsoring AppColl and uploading my digital certificate to AppColl?
Both processes accomplish the same thing, which is to allow you to update your matters from Patent Center while in AppColl. Digital certificates were retired by the USPTO in June 2019. Sponsorship is the new and only means for updating your matters from Patent Center.
Will I see any differences in functionality when AppColl starts using sponsorship instead of digital certificates?
No. Sponsorship provides the same functionality as digital certificates. You will not see any changes in the way AppColl works.
Is there any costs associated with sponsoring AppColl?
No.
What's the difference between e-Office Action emails and sponsorship and do I need to use both?
They are completely independent of each other. You can use one without the other. e-Office Action emails do not require authentication into Patent Center. It is strictly done by adding AppColl as a recipient to the PTO emails you already receive.
Does sponsorship replace the functionality of e-Office Action emails?
No. Sponsorship simply allows you to manually update your matters (both bibliographic and docketing information) or automatically if you have AppColl PM Plus. Whereas, e-Office Action processing updates your docket, without updating the bibliographic information.
How do I sponsor AppColl?
Visit the link at the bottom of this page to access the USPTO's document on the sponsorship process. Our sponsorship email address is myuspto@appcoll.com.
Do all our attorneys need to sponsor AppColl?
It depends on how your matters are distributed between attorneys. If all your firm or corporate matters are tied to a single digital certificate (or a single reg number once your migrated your cert to a MyUSPTO account), then only the attorney associated with that certificate needs to sponsor AppColl. If you can currently update all your matters in AppColl, from the single digital certificate uploaded to AppColl, then only that attorney needs sponsor AppColl.
If your matters are associated with multiple digital certificates (or reg numbers since migrating), then each of those attorneys would need to sponsor AppColl and associate their patent registration number to your AppColl account.
How will my data be accessed after I sponsor AppColl?
Our systems will use the sponsorship to download XML data a) when you click on the Update Matter button in the matter details page, or b) when we receive an e-Office action email and your subscription plan is AppColl PM Plus, in which case documents and XML data associated with the e-Office action will be downloaded. We will not access your data under any other circumstances unless specifically requested by you.
Do I have to sponsor AppColl if I want to to update my matters within AppColl?
Yes. AppColl cannot update your matters, from Patent Center, without access to your Patent Center account via sponsorship. However, you can manually update your matter's bibliographic information from EspaceNet.
Do I have to sponsor AppColl if I want to utilize the document download features of AppColl PM Plus?
Yes.
Is there any reason to sponsor AppColl if I do not use AppColl PM PLUS?
If you have previously updated your matters in AppColl using your digital certificate, then you would want to sponsor us to continue this functionality.