Category: Patents

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Time to file comments on DOCX yet again

(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”

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USPTO blinks a second time on auxiliary PDF with 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”

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Recordings of many recent ePCT webinars are now available

I am by now part way through a series of sixteen webinars about the ePCT system.  Thirteen of the webinars have been presented, and there are three more webinars that you can register for (click here to register).  We were successful in recording the first thirteen webinars and the recordings have been edited into presentable form and have been posted for viewing.  So if you missed any of the first thirteen webinars, you can view the recording.  Here are the topics and links for viewing the thirteen recordings that have been posted so far. Continue reading “Recordings of many recent ePCT webinars are now available”

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A second false statement on the USPTO web site

click to enlarge

(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”

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A first false statement on the USPTO web site

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Here is a false statement from the Patentcenter web site of the USPTO (screen shot above right):

Patent Center has 100% of the functionality of EFS-Web, Public and Private PAIR, and is available to all users for electronic filing and management of patent applications.

This false statement on the Patentcenter web site has been reported to the USPTO as EBC ticket number 1-831173674.  This is Patentcenter trouble ticket number CP141 (click here to see it).

On the Patentcenter Trouble Ticket page, we list dozens of reasons why this statement is false.  Here are just a few of them …  Continue reading “A first false statement on the USPTO web site”

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Terrifying Tales of the USPTO’s DOCX Filing System – the movie!

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.

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A nice person at the EBC

Folks, I am reminded that there are bright and alert and nice people in the world.

I encountered a problem in Patentcenter recently.  (For reasons that will become clear, in this posting I am going to avoid discussing the particular problem in detail.)  I posted the problem in https://patentcenter-tickets.oppedahl.com/ as usual, giving it a new patentcenter trouble ticket number starting with “CP”.    This was one of those trouble reports where a screen shot is part of explaining what the problem is that is being reported. Continue reading “A nice person at the EBC”

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An open letter to Director Vidal and Commissioner Udupa about DOCX

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