Category: Industrial Designs

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How the “new, safer and simpler log-in” works at the USPTO?

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I’ve received many questions from people who have tried to use the “new, safer and simpler log-in” for PAIR and EFS-Web.  (See the big blue footer that now appears whenever you try to use PAIR.)  Here’s what one very experienced USPTO customer asked me:

Last week I set up two-factor authentication with MyUSPTO, following the USPTO’s instructions.  Recently the big blue banner started appearing and I figured I had better start using the newer, safer and simpler log-in.  So today I needed to e-file form SB39 in one of my cases.  This is my time to try out the newer, safer and simpler log-in, right?  I logged in at the USPTO web site using my MyUSPTO user ID and password.  So far, so good.  Over on the right side, it says “File patents with EFS Web”.  So now that I have logged in, I click there and I reach the “unregistered e-filers” page.  There are some links but none of them will get me to the “registered” EFS-Web.  Finally I give up on MyUSPTO and I click on the old-fashioned link on the upper left and I click on “eFile (registered)” and that got me to the familiar old Entrust Java Applet page.  I e-filed my form SB39.

When that was done I went back to the MyUSPTO home page again hoping to figure out how I might have gotten to the “registered” EFS-Web page.  What did I miss?

I’ll explain. Continue reading “How the “new, safer and simpler log-in” works at the USPTO?”

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Things you need to do today if you are a USPTO patent practitioner

You’ve received the scary emails from USPTO, and the scary pop-up messages in PAIR, saying that “you will need to use a newer, safer, and simpler log-in … beginning in October 2018”.

There are some things that you really need to do now (if you have not already done so) if you are a USPTO patent practitioner.  Each human being in your office needs to get a MyUSPTO user ID and password (if he or she has not already done so).  Each human being in your office needs to set up TOTP with that user ID (if he or she has not already done so).  And you need to attend some upcoming webinars in which USPTO will try to explain all of this very clearly.

I’ll explain. Continue reading “Things you need to do today if you are a USPTO patent practitioner”

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Industrial Designs and more test cars

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It’s test car time of year again for Summit County, Colorado.  Here are ten of the approximately sixty camouflaged cars swarming around the streets and highways and the mountains of Colorado this week.  They are testing next year’s car models to see how they perform in the thin air at an elevation of 9000 feet (2700 meters) or higher.

It’s not only that camouflage wrap is laid onto the cars.  There are also fake body panels and bumps and contours taped into place under the camouflage wrap.

This is all to protect the industrial designs — postponing for as long as possible the day when a competitor will get to see exactly what next year’s models look like.

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Winding down PDX – an action step for the USPTO

This past Saturday was a big day for DAS for US design filers and for US utility patent filers, in cases that claim priority from Chinese design and utility applications.  The big development was USPTO “pulling the plug” on PDX with respect to the Chinese patent office (blog article on utility patents and blog article on design patents).

The previous “pulling the plug” for PDX was last November 2017 when USPTO pulled the plug on PDX for Japan (blog article).

Now there is more plug-pulling to do.  Eventually PDX will be a thing of the past. Continue reading “Winding down PDX – an action step for the USPTO”

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Today is the day – US design applications that claim priority from Chinese design applications

Today is the day that USPTO is pulling the plug on the PDX system with respect to the Chinese patent office.  As a consequence, today is the day that, for the first time, a US design applicant can use the DAS system to obtain an electronic certified copy of a Chinese priority design application.

I blogged about this a few days ago, and you can read more about this development in that blog article.

As of today, for a US design filer, the DAS system makes it possible to retrieve an electronic certified copy of a priority application from the following Offices:

  • China
  • Spain
  • India

Korea became a Depositing Office for designs on July 20, 2018 (blog article).  But this is no help for US design filers who wish to claim priority from a Korean design application.  Hopefully soon the USPTO will pull the plug on the PDX connection to the Korean intellectual property office, and then US design filers will be able to make use of DAS for Korean priority claims.

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KIPO recently became a Depositing Office in DAS for designs

There was a development in the industrial design community last month that almost went unnoticed.  On July 20, 2018, the Korean Intellectual Property Office became a Depositing Office in the DAS system for designs.

This is unfortunately no help for US design filers who wish to claim priority from a Korean priority application, because as of right now, the USPTO and the KIPO are still connected in PDX.  And PDX trumps DAS.  Hopefully Real Soon Now the USPTO will pull the plug on the PDX connection to KIPO, and then US design filers will be able to use DAS to get electronic certified copies of Korean design applications.

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The ID5 Offices that have not yet joined DAS

The ID5 is the big five Offices for protection of industrial designs.  The Offices are the USPTO, the EUIPO (formerly known as OHIM), JPO (the Japanese patent office), KIPO (the Korean intellectual property office) and SIPO (the Chinese patent office).

Conspicuous by its absence from DAS is EUIPO.  I keep hearing that EUIPO will join DAS Real Soon Now.  I do hope that EUIPO will follow through with this.

USPTO is not, at the present time, a Depositing Office in DAS for design applications.  USPTO has promised that Real Soon Now it will become a Depositing Office for designs.  I do hope that USPTO will follow through with this.

JPO is not, at the present time, a Depositing Office in DAS for design applications.  I also hope that JPO will follow through soon with this.