Category: PCT

(updated to mention new trouble ticket CP153.)

The USPTO has announced (press release) that on November 8, 2023, seven weeks from today, it will shut down EFS-Web.  It looks like the USPTO has completely failed to give any thought to what this means for PCT applicants whose patent applications involve genetic and nucleotide sequences.  Continue reading “Yet another thing the USPTO got wrong about its planned shutdown of EFS-Web”

On December 10, 2019 I provided training material to the USPTO (blog article, training material) about PCT Declaration Number 4.  The idea is that a patent firm located outside the US might be trendy, modern, and up-to-date and might provide a signed inventor declaration (for later US purposes) at the time of filing a PCT application.  The idea is that perhaps 1½ or 2½ years later, when the US national phase is entered, the signed declaration of inventorship for US purposes would already be in the file!  The idea is that the formalities examiner in the DO/EO/US would take a look in the file and would pay attention to the presence of the signed PCT Declaration Number 4.

Unfortunately, all too often in recent months, we have had cases at the DO/EO/US where the formalities examiner at the USPTO fails to pay attention to the presence of the signed PCT Declaration Number 4 in our national-phase entry application file.  Just today, for example, in one of our national-phase entry applications, the formalities examiner at the USPTO mailed out an official Filing Receipt along with Form PCT/DO/EO/903 (371 Acceptance Notice) dated July 17, 2023 falsely stating that we had failed to provide a “properly executed inventor’s oath or declaration” for our inventor.

It is hoped that the USPTO will once again in 2023 provide the training materials to its DO/EO/US formalities examiners, so that they can avoid making this mistake in the future for other US national-phase applicants.

PCT enthusiasts now have two subjects to choose from for binge-watching.  Just today I finished the video editing of the sixteenth webinar in the recently finished sixteen-webinar series on ePCT.  As a consequence, as of today, a PCT enthusiast may, if desired, binge-watch more than nineteen hours of webinar video about ePCT.  (You can see it here.)

This parallels the over fourteen hours of webinar video about PCT (as distinguished from ePCT) that are available for binge-watching here.  Yes, the PCT enthusiast has not one but two subjects available for binge-watching.

Do you sometimes pick ISA/EP when you file a PCT application?  Is it a source of frustration that the communications from ISA/EP arrive only slowly, via postal mail, rather than electronically?  Would you like to learn how to set things up with an electronic EPO mailbox so that you can receive your ISA/EP communications electronically instead of by slow postal mail?  Continue reading “Learn how to receive ISA/EP correspondence electronically rather than by postal mail”

I am by now part way through a series of sixteen webinars about the ePCT system.  Thirteen of the webinars have been presented, and there are three more webinars that you can register for (click here to register).  We were successful in recording the first thirteen webinars and the recordings have been edited into presentable form and have been posted for viewing.  So if you missed any of the first thirteen webinars, you can view the recording.  Here are the topics and links for viewing the thirteen recordings that have been posted so far. Continue reading “Recordings of many recent ePCT webinars are now available”

At this link you can see a plan for four webinars.  The goal is to cover the PCT forms that PCT applicants and agents receive most often.  Each webinar will be 90 minutes in length.  The goal is to cover the forms listed and discussed in Oppedahl on PCT Forms and PCT Docketing, shown at right.

The question is, would anybody actually want to attend these four webinars?  That’s what I would like to know.  I invite people to post a comment below.

If you are a PCT user, you need to register for a webinar which EPO will present on May 9, 2023.  You can read about it, and you can register, here.

The webinar will take place starting at 10AM Mountain Time on Tuesday, May 9.  The webinar is free of charge.

The European Patent Office (EPO) is offering a 1½-hour online seminar for US paralegals and agents dedicated to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). This seminar is an opportunity to find out more about the services provided by the EPO and the latest developments in the PCT system as well as getting practical information on the related EPO’s online services.  Topics to be discussed include:

• • PCT procedure before the EPO as International Authority including practical examples
  • Payments and Reimbursement
  • New secure online access
  • Online filing possibilities
  • Electronic Mailbox for PCT agents/applicants
  • Questions & Answers

I think that for most US attendees, the most interesting topic will be EPO’s upcoming enhancements and improvements to its “electronic mailbox” system.  This is the system that permits the applicant to receive ISA/EP and IPEA/EP communications instantly rather than having to wait for such communications to arrive via postal mail.  This includes things like the ISR/WO and an Invitation to Pay Additional Fees.

Many readers have signed up for the first eight webinars about ePCT.  (Details here.)  Now I have scheduled dates for five more of the webinars.  Here are the dates and times, and here are the links to register:

• • Webinar 9.  Thursday, April 27, 2023, 10AM Mountain Time.  Filing a new US PCT application in RO/IB using ePCT.  Click to register.
  • Webinar 10.  Tuesday, May 2, 2023, 10AM Mountain Time.  ePCT actions and communications with the IB.  Click to register.
  • Webinar 11.  Thursday, May 11, 2023, 10AM Mountain Time.  External signatures and PCT declarations.  Click to register.
  • Webinar 12.  Thursday, May 18, 2023, 10AM Mountain Time.  Sequence listings and ePCT.  Click to register.
  • Webinar 13.  Thursday, June 1, 2023, 10AM Mountain Time.  Docketing of PCT applications and making use of ePCT notifications.  Click to register.  Suggested companion purchase.