Electronic Filing System

Electronic Filing System
"The Department of Commerce is using the web to entirely change the way we interact with our customers. What eBay has done for auctions, we are trying to do for government. The EFS Pilot moves Commerce another step closer to going from a paper-based bureaucracy to an all-digital Department by the year 2002."
U.S. Commerce Secretary William M. Daley
The US Patent and Trademark Office is developing the Electronic Filing System (EFS) to allow the submission of patent applications electronically via the Internet. The USPTO has established as crucial to its Strategic Business Plan, the eventual goal of complete electronic filing of patent application submissions and the creation of an electronic workplace. The Electronic Filing System is one of several electronic commerce automated services to be provided to patent business customers