More on the letter from Forty-Eight Design Applicants and Practitioners to Director Karen Young

Hello dear readers.   It will be recalled that on October 12, 2021, forty-eight design applicants and practitioners signed and sent a letter to Karen Young, Director of Technology Center 2900.  (This is the Technology Center that examines design patent applications.)  The letter (click here to see it) has four “asks” relating to the the examination of US design patent applications.   

Yesterday, the phone rang and it was Director Young!  I told her I was delighted to hear from her.  She was calling, among other reasons, to ask if I could find a time in my calendar for a first conference to review the October 12 letter.  The idea was to review the letter and clarify the various issues raised in the letter.  The further idea is that after that, she and her people would work on those issues and would get back to us.  She and I have set a date of tomorrow afternoon, May 26, for the first conference.  This is, obviously, an encouraging development and we will want to do what we can to make the most of this telephone call, and whatever might come after that.

It looks like this first conference will be a videoconference.  The people invited from the USPTO side are:

• Karen Young (Director of Technology Center 2900)
• Aarti Berdichevsky (Technology Center Operations Manager)
• Brandon Rosati (Management Quality Assurance Specialist)
• Ian Simmons (Design Practice Specialist)

Here are some of the things that have taken place as part of preparing for the May 26 telephone call.

We have set up a private listserv for the 48 signers of the letter, so that we can discuss and prepare.  

We have set up a Gotomeeting for May 26 for the 48 signers of the letter, so that we can discuss and prepare.  This Gotomeeting will be about two hours earlier than the start time for the USPTO videoconference.

The other 450 or so members of the Industrial Designs listserv who did not sign the letter (now I imagine some are wishing they had gotten off their behinds and signed the letter!) have been invited to get in touch with whichever of the 48 signers they are best acquainted with, to discuss and prepare.  There may also be discussions on the Designs Listserv itself for discussions as we lead up to the May 26 phone call.