Abstract is required to “commence on a separate sheet”? No!

From time to time an Examiner in the USPTO recites this objection:

The abstract of the disclosure does not commence on a separate sheet in accordance with 37 CFR §§ 1.52(b)(4) and 1.72(b).  A new abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text.

An Examiner made such an objection a couple of days ago in one of our cases.  We will be able to force the Examiner to withdraw the objection. Continue reading “Abstract is required to “commence on a separate sheet”? No!”

USPTO favors a particular company

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The USPTO did a bad thing the other day.  It told its customers, falsely, that the only way to do time-based one-time passwords is to use Oracle’s app.  USPTO says “you must have the Oracle Mobile Authenticator app on your mobile device” to do one-time passwords.  This is flatly false and it wrongly favors a particular company.  Hopefully the USPTO will remedy its mistake immediately.  I’ll explain this.   Continue reading “USPTO favors a particular company”

Is someone tampering with your US trademark registrations?

Erik Pelton
Erik Pelton

One of the smartest trademark practitioners in the US is Erik Pelton.  Erik regularly shares his knowledge and experience on the E-Trademarks listserv and on his blog.  He is a long-standing sponsor of Meet the Bloggers.  Here is something that he posted on the listserv the other day:

I recently came across a peculiar situation for the first time:  a person not affiliated with Applicant filed a correspondence change with the USPTO via TEAS. The only change was to add an additional email address to the record. They did this just before the registration issued.

My guess is that they were trying to game the Amazon Brand Registry system, which I believe automatically generates a link sent to the trademark registration email address(es) of record when creating a new account.

I filed via TEAS to change the correspondence to remove the email; and then the same email address was used to do it a second time. To add to the issue, the email address used is from a secure private email domain (tutanota.com).

My client and I have reached out the USPTO (who has responded quickly, I am pleased to share!) and to Amazon to warn them about this. I suspect it has happened to others who may not be aware.

If anyone has any additional information or experience about this issue, please share.

I had never heard of this until Erik posted this to the listserv.  Prompted by Erik’s posting I surfed around a bit to try to learn what might be going on.  I actually signed up for the Amazon Brand Registry and I can confirm that the trademark hijacking risk that Erik described does exist.  Here is what I learned. Continue reading “Is someone tampering with your US trademark registrations?”

A new Best Practice – reporting docx

A year ago or so, the USPTO started a beta-test of its system in which docx files play an important role.  In the best-test system, an applicant was permitted to file a patent application in docx format rather than PDF format.  Likewise, the applicant had the opportunity to receive some documents from the USPTO in docx format in addition to PDF format.  Our firm was among the beta-testers of this docx system.

Now, as of September 10, 2017, these features have been made available to all USPTO customers (not merely the beta-test users).  This offers a new Best Practice for reporting to clients.

Continue reading “A new Best Practice – reporting docx”

Russia joins Hague Agreement!

Mr. Alexandr Alimov (left) deposits the instrument of ratification with WIPO’s Director General Francis Gurry (Photo: WIPO)

Russia has joined the Hague Agreement.

On November 30, 2017, the Government of the Russian Federation deposited its instrument of ratification of the Hague Agreement with WIPO’s Director General Francis Gurry.  The Hague Agreement will thus enter into force in the Russian Federation on February 28, 2018.

Continue reading “Russia joins Hague Agreement!”

ISA/RU search fee for US filers increases today

It will be recalled (see blog post of November 3, 2017) that the search fee to be paid by a US filer selecting ISA/RU was scheduled for a fee increase today, December 6, 2017.

The fee increase, from $482 to $698, has indeed taken place.

You do not need to worry about accidentally paying the incorrect fee amount, because EFS-Web and ePCT have both been updated to reflect this new fee amount.

As of today the various searching authorities available to those who file in RO/US, ranked by the amount of the search fee, are:

  • EP – $2238
  • US – $2080
  • AU – $1688
  • SG – $1552
  • JP – $1372
  • KR – $1114
  • US – $1040 (small entity)
  • IL – $963
  • RU – $698
  • US – $520 (micro entity)

There are many factors in addition to price which a filer might wish to take into account when selecting an International Searching Authority.