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The Union administration agency creditworthy for granting patents and trademarks is alert thousands of filing clerk whose private addresses were exposed espouse a second data point spill in as many days .
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ( USPTO ) said in an email to affected trademark applicants this workweek that their private domicile address — which can let in their home reference — appeared in public criminal record between August 23 , 2023 and April 19 , 2024 .
U.S. trademark law require that applicants let in a private address when file their paperwork with the bureau to prevent fraudulent trademark filing .
USPTO said that while no addresses appeared in even searches on the agency ’s website , about 14,000 applicants ’ private address were included in bulk datasets thatUSPTO print onlineto aid academic and economic research .
The agency took blame for the incident , saying the addresses were “ unknowingly exposed as we transitioned to a new IT system , ” accord to the email to affected applier , which TechCrunch obtained . “ significantly , this incident was not the outcome of malicious activity , ” the email sound out .
Upon discovery of the protection lapsing , the office said it “ blocked access to the impacted bulk data lay , withdraw files , follow through a patch to desexualise the exposure , tested our solvent , and re - enabled access . ”
If this sound unco intimate , USPTO had a interchangeable exposure of applicants ’ address data last June . At the meter , USPTO said itinadvertently exposedabout 61,000 applicant ’ individual addresses in a yr - foresightful data spill in part through the spill of its bulk datasets , and told affect individuals that the issuing was fixed .
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When arrive at for remark Wednesday , USPTO ’s deputy main selective information officer Deborah Stephens evidence TechCrunch that the new photo was expose as part of the authority ’s travail to modernize its IT base .
“ The pickle we had in position was all in place , and remains in place , ” said Stephens . “ As we ’re modernizing and taking the legacy system from the different ten of standard and protocols , the system error happened in the creation and modernization of that bulk data set . ”
Stephens say USPTO put in place new checks when collating and publishing its bulk data sets that include “ error correction with file creation , ” which should prevent future spillage of personal data .
“ We ’re looking at our legacy - to - advanced process of being able to identify way in which we can meliorate our IT development , processing and delivery by taking more of a holistic feeler to our data , and specifically outwardly or publicly facing system , ” Stephens said .
USPTO tell affected individuals that the government agency has “ no reason to believe ” that peril address have been misused .
