Carl – Page 90 – Ant-Like Persistence

October 1, 2019

Argentina is getting ready for a PCT Receiving Office?

(Update on March 1, 2020: since the date of this blog article, WIPO has updated its Participating Offices web page to say that INPI’s participation that will commence on March 2, 2020 is only as to national patent applications, not also as to PCT applications.)

I am fascinated to see the following information on the DAS page of the WIPO web site:

What this says is that starting on March 2, 2020 (a mere five months from now), the RO/AR will be a Depositing Office for the WIPO DAS system. What is interesting about this is that for RO/AR to be a Depositing Office, the RO/AR would have to exist by March 2, 2020. And for RO/AR to exist, Argentina would have to join the PCT by March 2, 2020. So I guess the DAS people at WIPO know something that I don’t about Argentina’s plans to join the PCT.

September 28, 2019

Malaysia has joined the Madrid Protocol

Malaysia has joined the Madrid Protocol. The Protocol will enter into force for Malaysia on December 27, 2019.

Malaysia deposited its Instrument of Accession on September 27, 2019. This brings to 122 the number of members of the Madrid system.

Malaysia joined the PCT on August 16, 2006. If Malaysia were to join the Hague Agreement, it would then achieve the trifecta for international filing systems.

The two-letter code for Malaysia is “MY”.

Starting from December 27, a trademark owner in Malaysia can file a Madrid Protocol application to pursue protection in one or more Offices outside of Malaysia. And starting from that date, a trademark owner outside of Malaysia can file a Subsequent Designation to Malaysia (or can file a new Madrid Protocol application designating Malaysia).

September 25, 2019

Maybe this will prompt corrective action by the Trademark Office

I was on airplanes much of last week when this petition got filed and that is my excuse for missing it. I have now had an opportunity to read the petition, filed by the Software Freedom Conservancy and signed by professional colleague Pamela Chestek. I am in awe of the amount of work and wordsmithing that went into this petition, which is well written both as a legal document and as a get-your-attention plain-English document. This petition communicates, much more clearly and directly than anything I have written (see blog article and blog article), the wrongheadedness and harmfulness of the recent rulemaking and drafting of examination guidelines by the Trademark Office at the USPTO relating to forcing applicants to reveal their domicile addresses.

My hope is that decisionmakers in the office of the Commissioner for Trademarks will read this petition and will take it to heart.

September 24, 2019

The Trademark Office and Post Office Boxes

Executive summary: I received a nice phone call from a high-up person in the office of the Commissioner for Trademarks at the USPTO about the post office box policy. Continue reading “The Trademark Office and Post Office Boxes”

September 23, 2019

Which ISAs do US filers choose?

WIPO provides a very nice statistics lookup tool on its web site. I used that tool to make this pie chart showing the International Searching Authorities that were chosen in 2018 by filers in RO/US. Continue reading “Which ISAs do US filers choose?”

September 21, 2019September 23, 2024

Maybe your firm can now use Zelle to make payments

In this blog article I said “Zelle cannot be used by a business”. Recently, however, some banks that belong to Zelle, which is a money transfer service, have begun allowing businesses to use Zelle. This article discusses this change. Continue reading “Maybe your firm can now use Zelle to make payments”

September 21, 2019

Many ISA fees changing in a few weeks

For US filers, many International Searching Authority fees will change in the next few weeks. Continue reading “Many ISA fees changing in a few weeks”

September 20, 2019

What is ROROP?

ROROP is Restoration of the Right of Priority. Continue reading “What is ROROP?”

September 12, 2019

Monitoring status of US patent applications redux

Today for the very first time I received an email from the MyUSPTO widget telling me that the status of one of my monitored files has changed. This is really a big deal.

I am delighted to report that somebody at the USPTO has made some progress in getting the Patent Docket widget in the MyUSPTO system working. As I say, today I actually received an an email notification that the status had changed in a case that I am monitoring in the widget. Whoever you are at the USPTO, thank you!

I blogged about this system and how it did not work at all well over the past two years. Now it seems to be working at least a little.

For readers, here is the encouraging news. You might be able to start using the MyUSPTO Patent Docket widget as an adjunct to your other mechanisms for monitoring status of US patent applications.

Continue reading “Monitoring status of US patent applications redux”

September 11, 2019

Ohio State University’s trademark application fares poorly

Readers will recall my blog articles here and here and here about Ohio State University’s ill-fated attempt to obtain a trademark registration for the word “the”. Now there is an Office Action which you can see here.

As I predicted, the Examining Attorney refused registration because the specimens of use show the mark as “merely ornamental”.

And as I also predicted, the Examining Attorney also refused registration in view of the earlier trademark filing by clothing designer Marc Jacobs. Continue reading “Ohio State University’s trademark application fares poorly”