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Category Archives: Trademarks

New leadership at the USPTO

22nd January, 2021 · oppedahl · 12 Comments

click to enlarge

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.

Posted in Patents, Trademarks |

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

22nd January, 2021 · oppedahl · 2 Comments

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.

Posted in Trademarks |

Filing at the International Bureau and Daylight Saving Time

1st November, 2020 · oppedahl · Leave a comment

On October 25 I blogged that US filers filing documents at the International Bureau needed to pay extra close attention to what time it is in Switzerland.  The reason is that in Switzerland, Daylight Saving Time stopped happening on October 25.  But did not happen on that day in the US. Continue reading →

Posted in Hague Agreement, Madrid Protocol, PCT |

Filing at the International Bureau and Daylight Saving Time

25th October, 2020 · oppedahl · 1 Comment

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 →

Posted in Hague Agreement, Madrid Protocol, PCT |

Today is the day – Italy joins the DAS system

1st October, 2020 · oppedahl · Leave a comment

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.)

Posted in Industrial Designs, Patents, Trademarks |

Today is the day for the Austrian Patent Office and DAS

1st October, 2020 · oppedahl · Leave a comment

Today is the day that the Austrian Patent Office commences participation in DAS.  (I reported this to you in a blog post on July 21, 2020.)  The APO is participating as an Accessing Office in every way that it is possible to participate:

  • National industrial design applications
  • National patent applications
  • National trademark applications
  • National utility model applications

The APO is participating as a Depositing Office in every way that it is possible to participate:

  • National industrial design applications
  • National patent applications
  • National trademark applications
  • National utility model applications
  • PCT international applications filed with the office as a PCT receiving office

Who is the most trendy, modern and up-to-date Austrian 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/AT application, and I will recognize your status as the most trendy, modern and up-to-date in Austria.  (I will blur part of the application number in the Certificates of Availability that I obtain and post.)

Posted in Industrial Designs, Patents, Trademarks |

The Trademark Office being nice to its customers

17th September, 2020 · oppedahl · 1 Comment

Just now I wrote to David Gooder, the Commissioner for Trademarks, asking him to please pass along thanks to some of his people.  Here is part of what I wrote to him today, edited slightly for blog style.  The main point is that today, the Trademark Office was nice to its customers and to the listserv community.  Continue reading →

Posted in Trademarks |

The price of trademark privacy continues to be $100

8th September, 2020 · oppedahl · 1 Comment

This blog post describes some most recent developments in the business of the Trademark Office granting $100 petitions for trademark applicants who do not want to tell Trademark Office employees exactly where they sleep at night.  This blog post talks about the privacy situation where the named applicant is a legal person (such as an LLC) rather than a natural person (a human being). Continue reading →

Posted in Trademarks |

Today is the day — Colombia joins the WIPO DAS system

28th August, 2020 · oppedahl · Leave a comment

Yes, today is the day that Colombia joins DAS as both an Accessing Office and a Depositing Office.  You can read about this here.

Who is the most trendy, modern and up-to-date Colombian 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 utility model application, and an RO/CO application, and I will recognize your status as the most trendy, modern and up-to-date in Colombia.  (I will blur part of the application number in the Certificates of Availability that I obtain and post.)

Posted in Industrial Designs, Patents, Trademarks |

Two more Offices join the WIPO DAS system

19th August, 2020 · oppedahl · 2 Comments

I am delighted to report that two more Offices have announced their participation in the DAS system.  These are the Italian Patent and Trademark Office and the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce of Colombia (the Colombian patent and trademark office).  Here are details of the Depositing-Office participations:

  Colombia is a Depositing Office? Italy is a Depositing Office?
National industrial design applications yes since August 28, 2020 yes since October 1, 2020
National patent applications yes since August 28, 2020 yes since October 1, 2020
National trademark applications   yes since October 1, 2020
National utility model applications yes since August 28, 2020 yes since October 1, 2020
PCT international applications filed
With the office as a PCT receiving office
yes since August 28, 2020 yes since October 1, 2020

 

One striking aspect of this is the participation of RO/CO and RO/IT as Depositing Offices.  This reminds us that among the IP5, the straggler Receiving Offices are RO/JP, RO/KR, and RO/US.  

Note, too, the ever-increasing participation of Offices in DAS with respect to trademarks.

This also offers a reminder that these two Offices offer utility model protection.

Here are details of Colombia’s Accessing-Office participation:

  Colombia is an Accessing Office?
Hague international applications yes since August 28, 2020
National industrial design applications yes since August 28, 2020
National patent applications yes since August 28, 2020
National trademark applications yes since August 28, 2020

 

Who is the most trendy, modern and up-to-date Colombian 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 utility model application, and an RO/CO application, and I will recognize your status as the most trendy, modern and up-to-date in Colombia.  (I will blur part of the application number in the Certificates of Availability that I obtain and post.)

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.)

Posted in Industrial Designs, Patents, PCT, Trademarks |
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