During the general government shutdown that began October 1, 2013, the United States Patent and Trademark Office will remain open, using prior year reserve funds to operate for approximately four weeks.  Should the reserve funds be exhausted before the general government shutdown ends, the USPTO would shut down at that time, although a very small staff would continue to work to accept new applications and maintain IT infrastructure, among other functions.  Updated information relating to USPTO operations during the government shutdown will be available at http://www.uspto.gov/news/2013ops.jsp.