This weekend is when Americans (well, most Americans) change their clocks for Daylight Saving Time. This makes a big difference if you are going to e-file something at WIPO or fax-file something at WIPO.
Design Day 2015
Registration is now open for the Ninth Annual USPTO Design Day. This important event will take place April 14, 2015.
USPTO will be closed on Tuesday, February 17
The weather reports for the Washington area call for “six to ten inches of snow” between now and noon on Tuesday. So the USPTO will be formally closed on Tuesday, February 17. This means that if you needed to file something on the 17th to satisfy some USPTO due date, it will be timely if filed on Wednesday the 18th.
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When the new fifteen-year design patent term takes effect?
In a recent blog post I said that May 13, 2015 will be a big day, and one of the reasons it will be a big day is that design patents granted from applications filed on or after that day will enjoy a fifteen-year term. This is a longer term than the fourteen years with which we are familiar.
In response, alert reader and patent practitioner Karen Oster asked about the many web articles that say that the effective date for the fifteen-year patent term was fourteen months ago on December 18, 2013. Among them are:
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Countdown to the Hague Agreement in the US
Here is a countdown to the date (May 13) when the US will belong to the Hague Agreement.
USPTO closed Monday February 16
Just a reminder that the USPTO will be closed on Monday, February 16. This is Washington’s Birthday* which is a federal holiday.
Anything that you might need to do by February 16 to satisfy some USPTO due date may be postponed until Tuesday, February 17 and will still be timely.
The importance of May 13, 2015 for US design patent filers
May 13, 2015 is an extremely important day for US design patent filers. Why? Because if you are smart about May 13, you can get a US design patent with a fifteen-year patent term rather than a fourteen-year patent term.
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US makes more progress toward the Hague Agreement
The Hague Agreement is the international filing system for design protection that corresponds to the PCT filing system for international utility patent protection and the Madrid filing system for international trademark protection. The progress of the United States toward membership and participation in the Hague Agreement has been slow and at times tortuous. As I blogged here, President Clinton signed the treaty in 1999. Many years passed before the Senate ratified it in 2007. Congress needed to pass enabling legislation which finally happened in 2012. Next the USPTO needed to promulgate proposed Rules, which it did in 2013. The next important step was for the United States to deposit an “instrument of accession” to the Agreement with WIPO.
Interestingly somehow the United States and Japan managed to coordinate their efforts, and the two countries deposited their instruments of accession on the same day, Friday, February 13, 2015. You can see WIPO’s press release here. 
And at right is a photograph (courtesy of WIPO) showing the historic event. You can see US Ambassador Pamela Hamamoto handing the Instrument of Accession to WIPO Director General Francis Gurry.
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Results are in — the 2014 US Design Patent Toteboard
Yes, the results are in. The Ant-Like Persistence blog is delighted to be able to present the 2014 US Design Patent Toteboard. This toteboard lists the forty-three highest ranked firms according to the number of US design patents which they obtained for clients. One corporation also chose to respond and is listed in the toteboard. These filers between them obtained about 24% of all of the US design patents in 2014.
You can also see corresponding toteboards for 2013 and 2012.
Glass ¾ full — many firms have handed in their design patent numbers
Here are some of the firms which by now have sent in their US design patent numbers at this questionnaire.
- Pearne & Gordon LLP
- Warner Norcross & Judd LLP
- Sughrue Mion, PLLC
- Design IP
- QuickPatents
- G. White Patents
- Babcock IP, PLLC
- Muncy, Geissler, Olds & Lowe, P.C.
- Banner & Witcoff
- Jacobson Holman PLLC
- Knobbe Martens
- Novak Druce Connolly Bove + Quigg
- Michael J Brown Law Office
- RatnerPrestia
- Brown & Michaels
- Leason Ellis LLC
- Saidman DesignLaw Group
- McAndrews, Held & Malloy, Ltd.
- Leydig, Voit & Mayer
- Westerman, Hattori, Daniels & Adrian, LLP
- Andrus Intellectual Property Law, LLP
- Rader Fishman & Grauer PLLC
- Harness Dickey
- Crowell & Morning LLP
- Osha Liang LLP
- Cantor Colburn LLP
These firms between them obtained about one-sixth of all of the US design patents that were granted in 2014.