More than five years ago the patent community asked the USPTO to make its PCT Receiving Office a Depositing Office in the DAS system. And even now, more than five years later, the USPTO has not yet done so. Continue reading “The USPTO’s PCT Receiving Office needs to join DAS”
How to reach a USPTO person if you can’t reach them by phone
In a previous blog article I described that it seems all of the phones at the USPTO are broken for incoming calls. Here is a practice tip.
If the person’s phone number starts “571-272”, then change the “272” to “273”. This yields a telephone number that is probably that person’s private fax number. You can then send a fax and ask the person to call you back.
All USPTO phones seem to be broken
From recent discussions on the Patent Practice listserv, it seems that it is impossible just now to place a telephone call to anyone at the USPTO. Continue reading “All USPTO phones seem to be broken”
2024 Toteboards are now available
I am pleased to present the 2024 toteboards:
Looking for ideas how to use a pH meter with youngsters
I am trying to think of fun ways to use an inexpensive pH meter in home experiments with a hope of getting youngsters interested in science. I will describe what I have imagined thus far, and I welcome suggestions. Continue reading “Looking for ideas how to use a pH meter with youngsters”
What is interesting about pH values of 4.01, 6.86 and 9.18?
I recently received a box of sachets like what you see in the photo at right. Each sachet contains a few grams of white powder which, if mixed with 250 ml of water, yields a stable buffer solution of one of the pH values mentioned in the subject line.
What is so interesting about these three pH values? Why did the maker of these sachets pick these three pH values? And, the alert reader demands to learn, what exactly is in the sachets? Continue reading “What is interesting about pH values of 4.01, 6.86 and 9.18?”
Commissioner for Patents Vaishali Udupa has resigned from USPTO
Recently the Director of the USPTO, Kathi Vidal, resigned from the USPTO. The Acting Director is Coke Morgan Stewart. Now comes the news that Commissioner for Patents Vaishali Udupa has resigned from the USPTO. The Acting Commissioner is Valencia Martin Wallace.
I spoke with a Patent Examiner by telephone today. It seems there has been no communication of the Commissioner’s resignation to the actual employees of the USPTO. They get to hear about such a development by reading about it in the news, or by hearing about it from a patent practitioner.
Monitoring your water softener
Some water softeners recharge on a predetermined schedule, but other water softeners recharge when they feel like it. If your water softener is the latter kind, then you might want to somehow get notified each time that it decides to recharge. This article describes a successful design and implementation of a system to monitor such recharging.
It appears that DOGE has access to all USPTO records and systems
A January 20, 2025 executive order from President Trump says, in part:
Agency Heads shall take all necessary steps, in coordination with the [administrator of DOGE] and to the maximum extent consistent with law, to ensure [DOGE] has full and prompt access to all unclassified agency records, software systems, and IT systems.
“Agency” is defined in a way that includes the USPTO.
So apparently the Department of Government Efficiency has, or will soon have, full access to all unclassified USPTO records, all USPTO unclassified USPTO software systems, and all USPTO unclassified IT systems.
A cogent analysis of Wednesday’s tragic airplane accident at National Airport
Here is a Youtube video with a cogent analysis of publicly available information about the tragic airplane accident at National Airport this past Wednesday. The video is about fourteen minutes in length and I think for any reader it would be time well spent.
I was in Washington earlier this week to argue an ex parte patent appeal before the PTAB. The way I arrived in Washington on Tuesday was through National Airport. Yes, the same approach from the south, with a glide slope down to Runway 1. My flight was not asked to swing over to Runway 33.
My return flight from Washington was on Thursday, through Dulles.