Month: October 2025

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Why is this door lever vertical?

door handle in Detroit Marriott hotel
click to enlarge

Yesterday I was among the presenters for a day-long class about the Patent Cooperation Treaty at the Detroit patent office.  The audience was alert and attentive and had lots of good questions.  It was a delightful day.

The hotel room that the organizers of the class booked for me had a door lever that puzzled me.  As you can see in the photo at right, the door lever was vertical.  I tried to figure out why it was vertical.  Was my particular hotel room the only one like this?  Was it simply a sloppy mistake by a worker when the hotel was built?  If so, why did the mistake not get corrected during the succeeding decades?  Or was it intentional that it is vertical?  Can you figure it out?  Continue reading “Why is this door lever vertical?”

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Yet another reason to attend the PCT seminar in Detroit next week

Hello PCT enthusiasts!

There was already a good reason to make plans to attend the PCT seminar that will take place next week in Detroit — namely the opportunity to hear from very nice WIPO people (and from me) about the PCT and ePCT.   (For more information or to register click here.)

Now there is an additional good reason to make plans to attend.  There will be a networking reception afterwards!  It is sponsored by the Michigan Intellectual Property Law Association.

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PCT training in Detroit this coming Tuesday

Hello PCT enthusiasts!  Who would like to participate in a day of Patent Cooperation Treaty (and ePCT) training?  It will take place this coming Tuesday, October 28, in the Detroit patent office.  I am one of the faculty members for this training.  For more information, or to register, click here.

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PCT training in Dallas this Friday

Hello PCT enthusiasts!  Who would like to participate in a day of Patent Cooperation Treaty (and ePCT) training?  It will take place this coming Friday, October 24, in the Dallas patent office.  I am one of the faculty members for this training.  For more information, or to register, click here.

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Why outgoing correspondence from the Patent Office is so slow

changes to outgoing correspondence workflow
click to enlarge

(Note:  this blog article is the first in a series of articles that will describe recent changes within the USPTO that have big effects upon applicants and upon people within the USPTO.)

For decades it has been the case that when a primary Examiner submits a piece of outgoing correspondence, the applicant would receive it soon after — typically within a couple of days.  But within recent months, it has been commonplace to see long delays before the applicant receives the outgoing correspondence.  How bad are the delays, and what is the cause of the delays?  Continue reading “Why outgoing correspondence from the Patent Office is so slow”

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What is an “I Want” song?

From time to time I will become aware for the first time of some element of popular culture that most other people already know about.  Today’s example is a term for a kind or category of song, namely the “I Want” song.  There is a particular song that is very popular right now, all around the world, and it turns out that this particular song falls into the (apparently well-known) category of “I Want” songs.  Today is when I learned that there is this category of song.

What is the definition of an “I Want” song?  What is this particular song that is right now very popular all around the world that falls into the category of being an “I Want” song?  Continue reading “What is an “I Want” song?”