That appears to be the true story. Here’s the link.
Read further. They have an antiquated software reader program (due to be replaced) that cannot read upside down text.
That spoils the funny.
And flipping the image with software would corrupt their precious bodily fluids? This ‘reason’ only makes sense if you don’t think about it or know how to use technology.
What am I saying? Of course the USPTO can’t use technology!
Dude, you should patent that solution.
He tried, but…you know.
That is patently absurd.
How do you delete these things? I can’t trade what I wrote for nothing…
You don’t.
But now I’m curious: What did you write?
Disclaimer: the following is not an official statement from the USPTO.
The Assignment Services Branch (don’t know why the form letter still says “Assignments Division”) does have the capability to manually rotate images sent to the automated fax server. However, at this time the software is not capable of maintaining the orientation when the images are entered into the main database.
As Leffan said, Assignment Services’ current proprietary reader program is being completely rebuilt and was in beta late last year. Problem is, there’s only one coder working on the program and, last I heard, there’s no money in the budget to continue development at this time.
Those 1000 patent examiners being hired? That’s in spite of a hiring freeze.
I wrote something brilliantly clever and wry, based in part on the name of this forum being “Silly Pointless Stuff I Must Share”, which of course it isn’t. This turned what I wrote into pathetic proof I don’t know what I am doing - not at all what I was going for, not at all. Like a pun based on a mistaken word. So I tried using the Edit button, which gives the popup tip strip “Edit/Delete Message”, but I didn’t find anything in the resulting window that looked like “Delete”, and just deleting my text and clicking Save gave an error about the posting being too short.
A pox on you. I nearly christened my sinuses with the holy fluid known as Dr Pepper reading this.
And still isn’t. 
The new software was implemented on 5 November but took just shy of four weeks to get all the bugs out.
I’ll bet Einstein could figure out what to do.
He wasn’t a world known patent clerk for nothing.
Einstein would be too smart to work in the IT department here. 
Wow, now I kind of feel bad for that guy I :rolleyes:ed. A few years back in my department at work we had a consulting firm come in to help us out with “best practices”. One of the consultants had recently received his MBA from Stanford. As I was showing him how to use the fax machine, he protested that I had fed the documents in foot first. “It’ll be upside down when they get it!”, he said.
I was quite uncharacteristically speechless for a second. Meanwhile my co-workers, having overheard the exchange, had all rolled back in their chairs into the aisle to better appreciate my response to the kid, who had already made a name for himself as a bit of a dick.
I finally told him that I was confident the people I was sending the fax to would figure out how to turn it right side up to read it.
It’s really not the end of the world, but all of the faxed correspondence I work with at my company (commercial insurance) is scanned in–I am quite sure that many, many companies work with fax scans nowadays as opposed to the paper variety (saves $$ and it’s green). We can easily rotate images with our viewer, but it is a pain in the ass on those days where it seems like *everyone *does it wrong just to be a dick.
If you know the right way to use it, why would you insist on using it wrong? Also, that’s not really a best practice. It’s a not-unacceptable practice, but there’s a better practice, so it isn’t the best.
It’s not just the patent office!
Our friend was going through the process of getting US citizenship, and needed to send a photocopy of his green card with his paperwork. Seems reasonable.
He receives a letter from Immigration stating that he needed copies of the front and back of said card, but he only sent the front. He found his card, flipped it over, and found…nothing. The back was blank. Thinking that he got a dud card that was missing vital info unbeknown to him, he called the INS office.
Him: It’s blank!
INS: we know
Him: but, what am I supposed to send you?
INS: a copy
Him: of nothing?
INS: Yes.
So he dutifully copied it, showing just a card shaped shadowy outline on a white piece of paper. They were happy, and the process went on.