Save the date! The next PCT Seminar will be September 22-24, 2026 near the Denver airport.
Why are shower head nozzles flexible?
Over and over again I somehow stumble upon or learn about a thing that seemingly almost everybody else already knew. Today’s question is, why are shower head nozzles flexible? You probably already know why, in which case please post a comment below. Anyway, here is what I figured out about flexible shower head nozzles. Continue reading “Why are shower head nozzles flexible?”
An Office Action in the red-hair-and-tinsel trademark case
Now there is an Office Action in the red-hair-and-tinsel trademark application (previous blog article). You can see the TSDR page and the Office Action. The Examining Attorney gives several bases for refusal:
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- Does not function as a service mark
- Non-distinctive trade dress
- Specimen refusal – fails to directly associate mark with services
- Mark on drawing differs from mark on specimen
Global IP Assignment Platform (GIPAP)
I am intrigued to hear about a WIPO initiative called the “Global IP Assignment Platform” (GIPAP). I suggest that interested practitioners and IP owners register for one of these upcoming WIPO webinars. Continue reading “Global IP Assignment Platform (GIPAP)”
New effort to secure a luggage tracking tag
It will be recalled (blog article, April 30, 2026) that recently I had a luggage tracking tag get knocked loose from my suitcase and the tag ended up at an airport in Portugal. Thanks to comments from loyal readers, I was inspired to try harder on this. Continue reading “New effort to secure a luggage tracking tag”
USPTO handling Unicode poorly in trademarks
The Trademark Office at the USPTO does not handle Unicode characters well. This blog post discusses a recent example of this. Continue reading “USPTO handling Unicode poorly in trademarks”
“the only other thing I can recommend is just use Word” – EBC advice
Well, the unspoken thing has just been spoken. “The only other thing I can recommend is just use [Microsoft] Word.”
Continue reading ““the only other thing I can recommend is just use Word” – EBC advice”
USPTO’s non-DOCX surcharge rears its ugly head again
(Update: 23 hours have passed since I opened ticket number 2-01001251 about Patent Center puking on a patent application prepared in Libre Office. Nobody from the USPTO got back to me during these 23 hours. Tomorrow is the priority date on which I need to get this patent application filed. I phoned up the EBC again just now, and was told “the only other thing I can recommend is just use [Microsoft] Word.” See followup blog article.)
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
(Update: there is now an Office Action in this case, see blog article.)
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”