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Patent Electronic Business Center New Users - Obtaining Customer Numbers and Digital Certificates


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In accordance with applicable provisions of PCT Administrative Instructions Part 7, as applied to national and international applications, an applicant has the option of filing a provisional or non-provisional application using either the built-in "low level" security certificate or the USPTO-issued "high level" security certificate. Low-level security certificates require only the verifiable e-mail address of the person submitting the application; however, they may be used only for application submissions, and may not be used for subsequent transactions, as they do not provide sufficient authentication. High-level certificates are preferred for all filings and are required for subsequent filings.

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To take advantage of Electronic Filing System (EFS) and Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) for pending patent applications on our website, several pieces of information must be correlated to assure that you and only you have access to your data. This page describes the steps you must perform to help us connect you to your data.

1. Apply for a Customer Number
First, you must have a customer number, which will be used to ensure that only you can access your patent application information. To get your unique Customer Number, please download and complete the Customer Number Request form (PDF, 12k) and fax it to the Electronic Business Center at (703) 308-2840.   If you are a registered attorney or patent agent, then your registration number must be associated with your customer number. This is accomplished by adding your registration number to the Customer Number Request form.

Patent & PCT Forms - Related Documents:

Paper Work Reduction Act [4k PDF Document]
Privacy Act [HTML Web Page]

2. You have your Customer Number, now what?
Once you have your customer number, you must also associate your current patent applications with it. Please see the Customer Number Upload Spreadsheet (MS Excel, 207k) showing how to put this information into spreadsheet format. This information can be sent on a diskette to: Mail Stop EBC; Customer Number; Commissioner for Patents; P.O. Box 1450; Alexandria, VA 22313-1450. If you do not have any pending applications on file, then skip to Step 3.

3. To Update a Customer Number
If you have a Customer Number and you need to update the information associated with it, please download and complete the Customer Number Data Change Form (PDF, 12k) and fax to the Electronic Business Center at (703) 308-2840. This may be useful to attorneys changing firms or organizations that are reorganizing the management of a group of patents.

Click here to read about the process for becoming a registered attorney or patent agent; however, this is not required to be a PAIR participant.

4. Read the Subscriber Agreement and Request a Digital Certificate
After you have read the Subscriber Agreement (PDF, 18k) and obtained your Customer Number, you can complete the Certificate Action Form (PDF, 11k)(PAIR access form). Then have the Certificate Action Form notarized by a notary and mail the originals (no faxes or copies) to Mail Stop EBC; Commissioner for Patents; P.O. Box 1450; Alexandria, VA 22313-1450, or provide the completed Certificate Action Form and proof of identity in person by to a USPTO employee designated by the USPTO CIO to perform this task.

Certificate Action Form - Related Documents:

Instructions [7k PDF Document]
Paper Work Reduction Act [4k PDF Document]
Privacy Act [7k PDF Document]


This information will be used to generate a certificate that will be used to uniquely identify you and allow secure access to your data. To assure the security of your data, follow the policy described in the Subscriber Agreement.

5. Obtaining Your Access Codes
After your application has been approved you will receive two codes, an Authorization Code will be sent by mail and the Reference Number via e-mail. At this point you will be able to download software for EFS or PAIR and take advantage of electronic filing of patent applications or patent application status checks via the internet.

Try these links for more information:

Visit the Patent Electronic Business Center pages for PAIR and EFS information.

Visit the main Patents page to locate more online patent guidance and resources.

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