THE INTERNAL affairs of the USPTO have vexed some insiders, who said that the CIO was hired/promoted for reasons associated with nepotism (people hired for family connections, not for skills). A few days ago we wrote about how the USPTO planned to penalise non-Microsoft customers, in effect favouring proprietary Microsoft formats over industry standards or open standards (which Microsoft obviously opposes).

"That's far too much money and it is reminiscent of what goes on at the EPO where Battistelli's companion is still the CIO."Moments ago we accessed the official USPTO Web site only to be greeted with a pop-up that says: "A number of USPTO online business systems remain offline. We understand the impact to our users and the frustrations that come from having such systems down unexpectedly. The USPTO is working hard to resolve the issue and we will continue to provide updates to you. The latest information on alternative methods of filing and payment and our systems status can always be found on our website. More updates will be forthcoming."

"Day Three of USPTO E-Filing Outages" is what Dennis Crouch called it a couple of days ago, so we assume that now it's the fifth day in a row. "Note that the system failures do not automatically serve as any excuse for filing delays," Crouch wrote. "The Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) is currently led by Acting Chief David Chiles and has a budget of $600 million."

That's far too much money and it is reminiscent of what goes on at the EPO where Battistelli's companion is still the CIO. ⬆