The USPTO’s non-DOCX surcharge is now rearing its ugly head again. Let’s see if, between now and tomorrow, May 15, 2026, the USPTO people in charge of the non-DOCX penalty provide decent software support for the filing of a new patent application that was prepared using a word processor that is not Microsoft Word. Watch this blog to see how the USPTO handles this defect in Patent Center. Continue reading “USPTO’s non-DOCX surcharge rears its ugly head again”
USPTO’s Trademark Center frozen
Yesterday I sent a US trademark application to a client to review and e-sign. Today came the email from Trademark Center telling me the client had e-signed it. I was invited to click to pay the money. So I clicked to pay the money.
For more than half an hour from now, I have been watching this screen that says “Please wait … Processing …”. And the word “Processing” is in an animated GIF that signals that something is happening. Continue reading “USPTO’s Trademark Center frozen”
The mark consists of the trade dress of the specific combination of red hair and sparkly pink hair tinsel
It looks like an attorney in Florida hopes to get exclusive rights to have red hair with pink tinsel, as trade dress for attorney services. No, I am not making this up. Continue reading “The mark consists of the trade dress of the specific combination of red hair and sparkly pink hair tinsel”
End-to-end RCS encryption soon to come to iPhones
After many years of foot-dragging, Apple is reluctantly making end-to-end encryption available for RCS messaging. Continue reading “End-to-end RCS encryption soon to come to iPhones”
PCT training in San Francisco on Wednesday, May 13
Are you attending the AIPLA Spring 2026 meeting at the San Francisco Fairmont hotel? If so, I invite you to attend some PCT training on Wednesday, May 13 from 4PM to 6PM in the French Room. Your presenters are Hanna Kang from WIPO and yours truly. We will talk about two topics:
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- choosing a Receiving Office, and
- choosing an International Searching Authority.
The training is sponsored by the PCT Issues Committee.
Here are the presentation slides for “choosing an ISA”.
The 2025 intellectual property toteboards have been posted
It is my honor to post:
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- the fourteenth annual US Design Patent Toteboard,
- the eleventh annual US Trademark Registration Toteboard,
- the eleventh annual US Utility Patent Toteboard, and
- the seventh annual US Plant Patent Toteboard.
You can see them here.
Good news for those who use ISA/EP and IPEA/EP
What we see today is some new user-friendliness on the part of the European Patent Office. EPO is now making it even easier than before for PCT applicants to receive communications electronically from ISA/EP and IPEA/EP. Continue reading “Good news for those who use ISA/EP and IPEA/EP”
My luggage tracking tag ended up in Portugal
I use luggage tracking tags. As you can see from the map at right, it looks like my medium-sized suitcase is at Porto Airport in Portugal. Actually the suitcase is with me right now at home in the mountains of Colorado. What explains this? Continue reading “My luggage tracking tag ended up in Portugal”
Where my blog traffic comes from?
I find it interesting that nowadays, a lot of my blog traffic comes from Reddit. Continue reading “Where my blog traffic comes from?”
Today, Google cut off another 48 members of the e-Trademarks listserv
For more than thirty years I have sponsored The Listservs. Each listserv is an email discussion group. I have sponsored listservs for patent practitioners, for trademark practitioners, and for industrial design protection practitioners. I have sponsored listservs for users of the Patent Cooperation Treaty and for users of Patent Center. And today, Google cut off 48 members of the e-Trademarks listserv.
What is Google doing wrong and what can be done about it? Continue reading “Today, Google cut off another 48 members of the e-Trademarks listserv”