Today is the day! The Madrid Protocol enters into force today with respect to Canada. Continue reading
TransferWise versus Afex fees
click to go to AFEX web site
click to go to TransferWise web site
How do the fees and currency conversion rate compare as between TransferWise and Afex? Just now we filed a PCT patent application at the International Bureau of WIPO, and we needed to send 2350 Swiss Francs to WIPO. How many US dollars would it take to do this with TransferWise? How many US dollars would it take to do this with Afex? I chose the service provider that saved the most money for our client. Which service provider did I pick? Continue reading
How to send money to ISA/KR or IPEA/KR
One question that comes up often when I am teaching a PCT class is “how do I send money to ISA/KR?” The usual way that this question comes up is that you might select ISA/KR and then receive an Invitation to pay additional fees (“ITPAF”). This blog article describes a quite easy and inexpensive way to send money to ISA/KR. Continue reading
Using words correctly – “podium” and “lectern”
click to enlarge
Every one of us has a goal of using words correctly. Here is an example of a word being used incorrectly. I encountered this sign in the Denver airport while waiting in line at a TSA checkpoint. The sign exhorts passengers to move ahead to any of several places where a TSA agent waits to check your boarding pass and ID.
The sign incorrectly calls such a place a “podium”. This is wrong. The person designing this sign was looking for the word “lectern”. See for example this article and this article.
“Rocket docket” for US designs
In this blog article I will introduce the reader to a USPTO initiative for US design patent applications called “rocket docket”. (The formal name for this initiative is “exepedited examination for designs”.) Using this initiative, a successful applicant might get a case allowed in less than a month. What are the pros and cons of using rocket docket? Continue reading
E-Trademarks listserv reception was a success!
Meet the Bloggers XV was a success!
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Patent Prosecution Boot Camp went well
The 20th annual Patent Prosecution Boot Camp went well.
Nice article in WIPO’s PCT Newsletter
If you have not already done so, you should of course subscribe to the PCT Newsletter published by WIPO. (To sign up, click here.) The PCT Newsletter comes out monthly and it is very for anyone who uses the PCT. The newsletters have several kinds of very helpful information. For example …
Upcoming PCT Seminars. Each issue has a calendar of upcoming PCT Seminars, and this lets you plan ahead for your PCT training opportunities. As you can see in the current issue, I will be teaching about PCT several times in the next few months, including:
- Glendale, California on June 6
- Atlanta, Georgia on September 19
- Des Moines, Iowa on October 3-4
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on November 7
- Cary, North Carolina on November 21-22
Practical Advice. A particularly helpful section of each PCT Newsletter is the Practical Advice column. This column will pick some topic in PCT practice and will discuss it in depth, often pointing out a way to be really smart about some step in the PCT process, or a trap for the unwary.
The current issue has a Practical Advice column entitled Possible implications of submitting informal drawings when filing the international application which was prompted by my blog article Filing informal drawings in a PCT application. The Practical Advice column is written better than what I wrote! The overall tone of the column is nicer and more friendly to the reader than what I wrote, and the column mentions the ePCT preview function which I did not think to mention.
WIPO also provides a very helpful search function to look up past Practical Advice articles.
The main point here is that if you have not already done so you should subscribe to WIPO’s PCT Newsletter.
The sponsors for the Ninth Annual E-Trademarks Reception
Let’s thank our sponsors for the E-Trademarks reception that will take place next week (brochure page).
As you by now have heard, one of our sponsors is anonymous! See https://blog.oppedahl.com/?p=4496 .
The reception brochure is here: https://blog.oppedahl.com/?p=4307
Our first tier of sponsors is:
- Oppedahl Patent Law Firm LLC
- our anonymous donor, who offers “an anonymous tip of the hat to a remarkable community on behalf of all participating and lurking administrators and paralegals”
- Lerman & Szlak
- BlueFilamentLaw
- Polsinelli
Our next tier of sponsors is:
and another sponsor is Michael J Brown Law Office LLC.
Thank you to all of these generous sponsors who help to make this Ninth Annual E-Trademarks Listserv Reception possible.