Category Archives: Trademarks

Results: the 2020 US Tote Boards

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Here are the results for the 2020 US Tote Boards.

The firm ranked first in filing of granted US plant patents in 2020 is Birch, Stewart, Kolasch & Birch, LLP.  The runner-up is Leydig, Voit & Mayer.  This is the second annual US Plant Patent Tote Board.

The firm ranked first in filing of granted US design patents in 2020 is Banner Witcoff.  The runner-up is Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C.  This is the ninth annual US Design Patent Toteboard.

The firm ranked first in filing of granted US utility patents in 2020 is Oblon, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt, L.L.P.  The runner-up is Cantor Colburn LLP.  This is the sixth annual US Utility Patent Toteboard.

The firm ranked first in filing of granted US trademark registrations in 2020 is Muncy, Geissler, Olds & Lowe, P.C.  The runner-up is Fross Zelnick Lehrman & Zissu, P.C.  This is the sixth annual US Trademark Registration Toteboard.

Trademark Office disappoints; IP Badger delights

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One of the things that a trademark owner has no choice but to be vigilant about is the risk that a bad person will try to steal the Amazon Brand Registry (“ABR”) rights connected with the trademark (blog article).  The usual way that a bad person will try to do this is by changing the email address that is on file at the USPTO for the trademark registration, then carrying out the ABR validation procedure (which involves Amazon sending an email message with a Secret Code Number to the email address on file) and then using the Secret Code Number to appropriate the ABR rights.  Recently one of my clients found itself the target of such an attempt.  The Trademark Office’s protective measure did not work, but fortunately IP Badger’s protective mechanism detected that the Trademark Office’s protective measure had failed.  Continue reading →

It is time to send in your numbers for the 2020 Tote Boards

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The results are posted.  See the tote board results.

I am grateful to the many loyal readers who have gently reminded me that I need to organize the 2020 Tote Boards.  You can see the past Tote Boards here.  These Tote Boards are part of a tradition that extends back to 2012 when I published the first Design Patent Tote Board.  Please send in your numbers now. We will close the entries in two weeks, that is, on Friday, April 2, 2021.  Here are the four Tote Boards for which your numbers are needed.

2020 US Plant Patent Tote Board.  This will be the second annual plant patent toteboard.  This is for granted US plant patents with issue dates falling in the range of January 7, 2020 to December 29, 2020.  About 1398 US plant patents issued in 2020.  How many of them have your firm name on the front page?  A typical search string in the USPTO patents full-text database for plant patents might be:

APT/6 AND ISD/2020 and (lrep/oppedahl or lrep/oppendahl)

To send in your numbers for US plant patents, click here.  We will close the entries in two weeks, that is, on April 2, 2021.   

2020 US Design Patent Tote Board.  This will be the ninth annual design patent toteboard.  This is for granted US design patents with issue dates falling in the range of January 7, 2020 to December 29, 2020.  About 34876 US design patents issued in 2020.  How many of them have your firm name on the front page?  A typical search string in the USPTO patents full-text database for design patents might be:

APT/4 AND ISD/2020 and (lrep/oppedahl or lrep/oppendahl)

To send in your numbers for US design patents, click here.  We will close the entries in two weeks, that is, on April 2, 2021. 

2020 US Utility Patent Tote Board.  This will be the sixth annual utility patent toteboard.  This is for granted US utility patents with issue dates falling in the range of January 7, 2020 to December 29, 2020.  About 352000 US utility patents issued in 2020.  How many of them have your firm name on the front page?  Yes you may include granted reissues in this total if you wish.  A typical search string in the USPTO patents full-text database for utility patents might be:

APT/1 AND ISD/2020 and (lrep/oppedahl or lrep/oppendahl)

To send in your numbers for US utility patents, click here.  We will close the entries in two weeks, that is, on April 2, 2021. 

2020 US Trademark Registration Tote Board.  This will be the sixth annual trademark toteboard.  This is for granted US trademark registrations with issue dates falling in the range of January 7, 2020 to December 29, 2020.  About 283386 US trademark registrations issued in 2020.  How many of them did your firm prosecute to registration?  (It is not necessary that your firm filed the application, merely that your firm prosecuted the case to registration.)

To send in your numbers for US trademark registration certificates, click here.  We will close the entries in two weeks, that is, on April 2, 2021. 

what is USPTO’s series code 90?

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Series codes are very important.  Anybody who regularly practices before the USPTO has more or less memorized the most commonly encountered series codes in his or her own daily work.  If you see series code 62, you know it is a provisional application.  If you see series code 29, you know it is a design application.   Series code 91 means oppositions before the TTAB.  Series code 92 means cancellation proceedings before the TTAB.  Every now and then, a series code gets “used up” meaning that serial number “999,999” is reached in the series code, and then things roll over into a new and different series code.  Provisionals, for example, used to be in series code 61 and before that they were in series code 60.

For over fifty years, for as long as there have been series codes at all, the trademark folks and the patent folks have carefully avoided ever using the same series code for different things.  Now it seems that this past practice has been ignored.  As far as I can see, this is a big mistake at the USPTO.  Continue reading →

Why you suddenly cannot log in at the USPTO since Saturday

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Here is why you suddenly cannot log in at the USPTO since Saturday.

Two people at the USPTO screwed up.  One of the people who screwed up did it yesterday, Saturday, March 6, 2021.  The other person who screwed up did it a couple of years ago, and that screwup only came into prominent view yesterday.  The screwups relate to what USPTO calls “authenticator app” two-factor authentication.  The screwups affect most trademark practitioners who practice before the USPTO, and they affect most patent practitioners who practice before the USPTO, and they affect most paralegals and administrative assistants who work with those patent practitioners.  Briefly, you need to delete your old “authenticator app” setup and you need to create a new “authenticator app” setup.  Here are the details.  Continue reading →

New leadership at the USPTO

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One of the responsibilities of the Director of the USPTO, carried out every Tuesday, is the signing of US patents and US trademark registration certificates.  On Tuesday, January 19, 2021, Director Andrei Iancu’s signature was placed upon 5414 trademark registration certificates and 4605 patents.  One of the trademark registration certificates appears at right, and I have highlighted his signature which appears just below the gold seal.

The following day, January 20, 2021, Mr. Iancu ceased to be the Director.  Now the person performing the functions and duties of the Director is Drew Hershfeld, the Commissioner for Patents.  I expect that this coming Tuesday, January 26, it will be Mr. Hirschfeld’s signature that will be placed upon the patents and the registration certificates.

The Trademark Office can now stop demanding to know where you sleep at night

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On July 2, 2019, the Trademark Office at the USPTO published a Final Rule stating that as of August 3, 2019, a trademark applicant would be required to reveal where he or she sleeps at night, in addition to stating his or her citizenship.  I believe the Trademark Office did this at least in part because of the politics surrounding the Executive Order 13880 of July 11, 2019.  In that Order, the then president wrote:

I disagree with the [Supreme] Court’s ruling, because I believe that the [Commerce] Department’s decision was fully supported by the rationale presented on the record before the Supreme Court.  The Court’s ruling, however, has now made it impossible, as a practical matter, to include a citizenship question on the 2020 decennial census questionnaire.

The then president ordered this:

I am hereby ordering all agencies to share information requested by the [Commerce] Department to the maximum extent permissible under law.

The Trademark Office is part of the Commerce Department and so was among the agencies subject to this order, and was thus subject to any requests from the Commerce Department about citizenship and domicile of trademark applicants.  I blogged about this several times, including here on May 29, 2020.

On January 20, 2021, the present president signed an Executive Order saying this:

Sec. 5. Revocation. Executive Order 13880 of July 11, 2019 (Collecting Information About Citizenship Status in Connection With the Decennial Census), and the Presidential Memorandum of July 21, 2020 (Excluding Illegal Aliens From the Apportionment Base Following the 2020 Census), are hereby revoked.

My hope is that the Trademark Office will now be able to amend its rule to relax the extent to which it demands to know where a trademark applicant sleeps at night.  The inquiry should only be needed in those limited circumstances that arise when a non-US applicant has failed to hire US counsel, or, to put it differently, where the Trademark Office suspects a non-US applicant is faking a US residence in an effort to avoid having to hire US counsel.  In any case where an applicant has hired US counsel, there should not be any reason, on or after January 20, 2021, for the Trademark Office to demand to know where the applicant sleeps at night.

Filing at the International Bureau and Daylight Saving Time

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It’s that time of year again.  The time of year when it is important to keep track of the fact that Daylight Saving Time is different in Switzerland from the way it is in the United States.  This is important because you might be in the US, and you might be e-filing (or fax-filing) some document with the International Bureau of WIPO.  Continue reading →

Today is the day – Italy joins the DAS system

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Yes, today is the day that Italy joins the DAS system as a Depositing Office.  You can read about it here.

Who is the most trendy, modern and up-to-date Italian intellectual property firm?  Be the first to provide to me an application number, filing date, and DAS access code for a design application, a patent application, a trademark application, a utility model application, and an RO/IT application, and I will recognize your status as the most trendy, modern and up-to-date in Italy.  (I will blur part of the application number in the Certificates of Availability that I obtain and post.)