Category: non-DOCX penalty

(Update:  nine comments got filed.)

This has been a busy week for Federal Register notices by the USPTO that relate to the ill-fated DOCX patent application filing initiative.  We already knew about two Federal Register notices about this:

• • 88 FR 36956 dated June 6, 2023, blinking a fourth time on the start date for the $400 non-DOCX penalty, and
  • 88 FR 37036 dated June 6, 2023 blinking a second time on the ending date for the ability to file an “auxiliary PDF” file by which the applicant may try to protect against USPTO errors in rendering DOCX files.

Now comes a third Federal Register notice:

• • 88 FR 37039 dated June 6, 2023, requesting comments on USPTO’s estimates of the burden that the DOCX application filing initative will impose upon applicants.

In this blog article I briefly discuss this third FR notice.  In a later blog article I will discuss this third FR notice in greater detail.  Continue reading “Time to file comments on DOCX yet again”

There are many reasons why the USPTO’s “auxiliary PDF” approach, which the USPTO hopes would induce reluctant DOCX filers to do DOCX filing, is unacceptable.  (See USPTO blinks a second time on auxiliary PDF with DOCX filing.)  Here are some of the reasons.  Continue reading “Deficiencies in the “auxiliary PDF” approach for DOCX filing”

(Corrected as to the name of the movie.)

A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, says a beloved song in the movie Mary Poppins.  In the case of the ill-conceived DOCX initiative at the USPTO, the spoonful of sugar offered by the USPTO to try to induce filers to swallow the bitter-tasting DOCX initiative has been what it calls the “auxiliary PDF”.   The USPTO has now blinked for a second time on the auxiliary PDF.  Continue reading “USPTO blinks a second time on auxiliary PDF with DOCX filing”

The USPTO had, up until now, blinked three times on the $400 non-DOCX penalty.  Now it has blinked a fourth time on the $400 penalty.  (Typographical error corrected from January 24 to January 17.) Continue reading “USPTO blinks a fourth time on the $400 non-DOCX penalty”

(Update June 20, 2023 — the false statement has returned to the USPTO web site — see blog article.)

Yesterday I reported (blog article) on a first false statement on the USPTO web site.  Here is a second false statement that appeared on the USPTO web site as recently as two days ago (screen shot above):

The USPTO strongly recommends submitting Specification, Claims, and/or Abstract in DOCX format which provides better data accuracy.

Continue reading “A second false statement on the USPTO web site”

On May 3, 2023, I urged you (blog article) to attend a webinar presented by two partners in the Fitch Even law firm, entitled Terrifying Tales of the USPTO’s DOCX Filing System.  Hopefully you attended that webinar.

But if you missed the live webinar, the good news is that Terrifying Tales of the USPTO’s DOCX Filing System is now available as a recording.  To view the recording, click here.

You can also view recordings (click here) of my two recent webinars on the malpractice risks associated with use of the USPTO’s DOCX e-filing system.

Here is a letter that I sent today to the Director and the Commissioner:

Hello Director Vidal and Commissioner Udupa and Deputy Commissioner Seidel:

By now there have been many webinars scheduled and presented that are intended to help the patent community understand the risks of filing US patent applications using the USPTO’s DOCX initiative.  These include:

• • • • Patent Center DOCX Filing: What you Need to Know, March 10, 2023, Schwegman, Lundberg & Woessner
      • Professional Liability Risks of Filing in DOCX – for users of Microsoft Word, April 18, 2023, Oppedahl Patent Law Firm LLC
        
      • Professional Liability Risks of Filing in DOCX – for users of non-Microsoft word processors, April 18, 2023, Oppedahl Patent Law Firm LLC
      • Professional Liability Risks of Filing in DOCX – for users of Microsoft Word, May 10, 2023, Oppedahl Patent Law Firm LLC
      • Professional Liability Risks of Filing in DOCX – for users of non-Microsoft word processors, May 12, 2023, Oppedahl Patent Law Firm LLC
      • Terrifying Tales of the USPTO’s DOCX Filing System, May 23, 2023, Fitch Even

You can see the May 10 recording here (1:29 in length) and you can download the presentation materials here.

I invite you and request you to let me know if you think there were any factual inaccuracies in the May 10 webinar.  If there were any inaccuracies in that webinar, I will publish corrections.

Carl Oppedahl

Oppedahl Patent Law Firm LLC

Hello readers!  On Wednesday, May 10, 2023 I presented a webinar about the malpractice risks of e-filing a patent application in DOCX format under the USPTO’s DOCX initiative, for those who use Microsoft Word.  On Friday, May 12, 2023 I presented a webinar about the malpractice risks of e-filing a patent application in DOCX format under the USPTO’s DOCX initiative, for those who use non-Microsoft word processors.

The webinars got recorded, and the recordings have now been edited into usable format for later viewing.  You can see the May 10 recording here (1:29 in length) and you can download the presentation materials here.  You can see the May 12 recording here (1:10 in length) and you can download the presentation materials here.

Hello readers!  On Wednesday, May 10, 2023 I presented a webinar about the malpractice risks of e-filing a patent application in DOCX format under the USPTO’s DOCX initiative.  The webinar got recorded, and the recording has now been edited into usable format for later viewing.  You can see the recording here and you can download the presentation materials here.  (Update:  the recording of the May 12 webinar is also now available.)

(Update:  a recording of the Terrifying Tales webinar is now available.)  Those who are considering filing a patent application at the USPTO in DOCX should inform themselves of the professional liability risks of doing so.  A first way to learn about this is to watch recordings of my recent webinars about this.  A second way will be to attend Terrifying Tales of the USPTO’s DOCX Filing System, presented by two partners in the Fitch Even law firm.  The webinar, which is free of charge, will take place on May 23.  To find out more about that webinar, or to register, click here.