Hello loyal readers.  I had received quite a few inquiries from readers who saw what I posted about this series of fifteen webinars about the Patent Cooperation Treaty, and who were not sure they could commit to attending all fifteen sessions.  Here is some good news about this.  Continue reading →

WIPO has launched a new web page called PCT Success Stories (click here).  The idea is that you might have invented something and filed a PCT application on the invention, and the PCT application might later have helped the invention be a success.  You could let the folks at WIPO know about it, and they could share the success story.  There is for example a place on the web page where you can click and upload a photograph of your invention.  Continue reading →

Who would like to receive fifteen hours of training on the Patent Cooperation Treaty?  In past years this might cost hundreds of dollars to buy a badge to attend an in-person two-day program.  In past years you might have to spend money on airplane tickets and two or three nights of hotel rooms.  In past years, you would have to go somewhere on an airplane and spend at least two nights in a hotel.

Guess what?  The patent firm Schwegman Lundberg Woessner is doing everything to make it possible for you to attend fifteen consecutive webinars about the Patent Cooperation Treaty from the comfort of your home or office.  You will not have to pay a penny to attend these webinars.  The people of the Schwegman firm are making this available to you free of charge.

But these webinars are consecutive and cumulative.  To make sense of webinar number 8, you need to have attended webinars 1 through 7.  You need to block out time in your schedule for all fifteen webinars.  They are free of charge, but you need to dedicate your time and energy to all fifteen of these webinars.  To see the schedule, or to register, click here.  I suggest you book these dates and times in your calendar.

You have a choice.  You can pass up this unique opportunity, or you can commit to this unique opportunity.

I think you can guess where I am going with this.   I suggest you follow through on this unique opportunity.

And by the way if you know anybody who is connected with the Schwegman firm, right now is the time to drop them a note and to say “thank you” to them for providing this opportunity for you.

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When I was first in practice, the only way to gain “small entity” status as a US patent filer was by filing a “small entity status form”.  It was thus a pretty big deal in the year 2000 when the USPTO published a Federal Register notice (65 FR 54603, September 8, 2000) which pretty much eliminated the need for small entity status forms.  Oversimplifying slightly, starting on November 7, 2000, a patent applicant in the USPTO was able to gain small entity status by the simple step of paying a government fee at the small entity rate.  Except not!  PCT filers sometimes find to their great disappointment that is is not really true that you can always gain gain small entity status by the simple step of paying a government fee at the small entity rate.  Continue reading →

Okay, folks, we are all sort of reeling from this pesky little problem that right now absolutely every external-facing USPTO system is broken.  So for example if you want to try to file a US patent application, you will find that EFS-Web is broken, and you will find that Patentcenter is broken.   Oh, and you remember that “contingency” EFS-Web server that was set up in 2014 so that any time the main EFS-Web server was broken, you would still have a way to file US patent applications?  Well, that’s broken too.

So what if the kind of patent application you want to file happens to be a PCT application?

Did you think about the fact that there is an e-filing system at the International Bureau?  Yeah!  The e-filing system at the RO/IB is not broken.  It is working fine right now.

Maybe what you want to do right now is feel bad that you missed my November 17 webinar entitled Picking a Receiving Office.  In that webinar, I discussed in great detail the pros and cons of filing a PCT application at the USPTO (through EFS-Web or Patentcenter) or filing a PCT application at the IB (through ePCT).  And this webinar was CLE accredited!  Maybe now you feel bad you missed it?  And this webinar was free of charge!  Now do you feel bad that you missed it?  Well, no need to feel too bad, because although we often do not succeed in recording these webinars, this time somehow we managed to record it.  You can see the recording here.  Right now if you want to file a PCT application, consider e-filing it at the RO/IB.  

Now of course if the invention was made in the US, you are going to need to consider whether you already have a suitable foreign filing license (FFL).  Maybe the FFL that got granted in your priority application covers (substantively) the content of the PCT application that you are getting ready to file.  Or maybe your invention was not made in the US in which case the whole FFL thing is not relevant.  

But the main thing to remind yourself about here is that anybody who is entitled to use the PCT system at all is entitled to use the RO/IB.  So there is always the chance that your filing situation might permit use of RO/IB in which case it might not have to be a problem that the various USPTO systems are all broken right now.

So you missed the CLE-accredited webinar about the Patent Cooperation Treaty that took place on Wednesday, December 8, 2021 entitled Picking an International Searching Authority?  Well, all is not lost.  You can download the program materials here and you can view the video recording here.  It is unlikely you will ever find anyplace that offers a comparable 86 minutes of discussion of this fascinating topic.  As a reminder this recording is provided free of charge, courtesy of the World Intellectual Property Organization.  You might be able to view it directly in your web browser here:

Here is a description:  Continue reading →

Wednesday, December 8 will be an ideal day for enthusiasts for the Patent Cooperation Treaty.  Two action-packed events, one after another, both free of charge.

10:30 AM Eastern Time to 1PM Eastern Time.  WIPO’s annual Advanced PCT Seminar.  Topics include:

• Recent and future developments in the PCT System
• ePCT: latest and future developments

The prepared materials will conclude at noon Eastern Time, at which time a one-hour Q&A session will provide an opportunity for participants to ask PCT-related questions of WIPO’s panel of PCT experts.

Your presenters are Matthias Reischle-Park, Hanna Kang, Cécile Chatel, and Pascal Piriou.

For more information, or to register, click here.

2PM Eastern Time to 3:40 PM Eastern Time.  Picking an International Searching Authority.   A PCT filer from the US has eight International Searching Authorities to choose from:

• Australian Patent Office (ISA/AU)
• European Patent Office (ISA/EP)
• Israel patent office (ISA/IL)
• Japanese Patent Office (ISA/JP)
• Korean Intellectual Property Office (ISA/KR)
• Russian patent office (ISA/RU)
• Singapore patent office (ISA/SG)
• United States Patent and Trademark Office (ISA/US)

Is there some particular ISA among these eight ISAs that is always or nearly always the best choice for nearly all PCT filers?  (The answer is no!)

What are the advantages and disadvantages of these various International Searching Authorities?   What are aspects of a particular patent application that might make a big difference to an applicant in the applicant’s process of selecting an ISA?

As a bonus topic we will talk about ways that power users can use ePCT to communicate with ISAs, and we will talk about ways to transfer funds to ISAs.  We will also discuss the likely futility of trying to get the ISA to agree to let you hand in formal drawings after you have made the mistake of filing your PCT application with informal drawings.

Your presenter is Carl Oppedahl.

The event is free of charge, because of generous support from WIPO.  For more information, or to register, click here.

So you missed the CLE-accredited webinar about the Patent Cooperation Treaty that took place on Friday, November 19, 2021 entitled National Phase or Bypass Continuation?  Well, all is not lost.  You can download the program materials here and you can view the video recording here.  It is unlikely you will ever find anyplace that offers a comparable 88 minutes of discussion of this fascinating topic.  As a reminder this recording is provided free of charge, courtesy of the World Intellectual Property Organization.  You might be able to view it directly in your web browser here:

Here is a description.  Continue reading →

So you missed the CLE-accredited webinar about the Patent Cooperation Treaty that took place on Wednesday, November 17, 2021 entitled Picking a Receiving Office.  Well, all is not lost.  You can download the program materials here and you can view the video recording here.  It is unlikely you will ever find anyplace that offers a comparable 90 minutes of discussion of this fascinating topic.  As a reminder this recording is provided free of charge, courtesy of the World Intellectual Property Organization.   You might be able to view it directly in your web browser here:

Here is a description of the program. Continue reading →

Here is a book that I think you should add to your bookshelf:  Oppedahl on PCT Forms and PCT Docketing.  Continue reading →