Bluesky: @oppedahl.com
(Update: The letter did get sent, and the USPTO received the letter (blog article).)
This blog article provides a document The Fool’s Errand That Is DOCX, dated December 27, 2022. This blog article invites you to sign a letter urging USPTO people to read the document. Continue reading “The Fool’s Errand That Is DOCX”
(Correction — I am told that both AIPLA and IPO also contacted the USPTO privately in recent weeks about this problem.)
It looks like maybe the USPTO blinked on the non-DOCX surcharge problem, at least a little. What forced the USPTO to blink was a letter from 117 patent practitioners pushing back on a December 20, 2022 Federal Register notice. The notice maintained and doubled down on January 1, 2023 as a date that all US patent filers would face a harsh choice — incur substantial risks of losses of patent rights due to the DOCX program, or pay $400 to be able to file a patent application in a way that eliminated those substantial risks. The only visible pushbacks on this December 20, 2022 FR notice were:
In this blog article I briefly describe the state of play on the DOCX program as it now appears.
Continue reading “USPTO blinked on the non-DOCX surcharge”
Monday, January 2 will be a federal holiday in the District of Columbia. This means the USPTO will be closed on Monday, January 2. This means that any response or action that would have been due at the USPTO on Saturday, December 31, or Sunday, January 1, or Monday, January 2 will be timely if carried out on Tuesday, January 3.
The US Postal Service will likewise be closed on Monday, January 2.
Monday, December 26 will be a federal holiday in the District of Columbia. This means the USPTO will be closed on Monday, December 26. This means that any response or action that would have been due at the USPTO on Saturday, December 24, or Sunday, December 25, or Monday, December 26 will be timely if carried out on Tuesday, December 27.
The US Postal Service will likewise be closed on Monday, December 26.
Hello, PCT enthusiasts. Today WIPO has placed into service its new version of the PCT Applicant’s Guide. (WIPO has dubbed today’s new version as “the eGuide“.) You can see it here. Importantly, the legacy version of the Applicant’s Guide is still available. You can see it here. Continue reading “See the new version of the PCT Applicant’s Guide”
The Monaco Industrial Property Office of the Business Development Agency, having made plans to join the DAS system, will become trendy, modern, and up-to-date on February 1, 2023. Continue reading “Monaco Industrial Property Office will soon be trendy, modern and up-to-date”
I posted a few days ago (blog article) that the EPO had set up a way for users of ISA/EP and IPEA/EP to receive correspondence (such as International Search Reports and Written Opinions) instantly and electronically, which might for some users be preferable to having to wait a long time for such correspondence to show up in slow postal mail. In that posting I described my own lack of success in setting up such things, particularly because an important button called “+Request PCT Link” was missing in the EPO system. I have heard back from the EPO people about this. It turns out you have to ask for this button. In today’s blog article I offer more information about this new system, that I have heard from the EPO people. Continue reading “How to get the “+Request PCT Link” button”
(Update: there is news about how to get the elusive “+Request PCT Link” button — see blog article.)
(Update: EPO people have provided a summary page about how to do this ISA/EP and IPEA/EP stuff, that is linked here and that I have archived here.)
PCT applicants who are located outside of Europe, and who pick ISA/EP as their ISA, have for some years now faced a frustrating situation: ISA/EP only sends out its communications by postal mail, not electronically. A couple of days ago I attended a webinar presented by four nice people at the EPO, in which they explained how their new system will work that will permit applicants to receive International Search Reports and Written Opinions (and other ISA communications) electronically instead of on paper. This article briefly summarizes my notes from that webinar. Continue reading “EPO’s new system for PCT applicants to receive ISR/WOs electronically”
(Update: the webinar took place and I have written an article about it.)
Well, folks, maybe you knew about this imminent webinar a long time ago, but somehow I only learned about it today. You know how you hate it that EPO only sends ISR/WOs out by postal mail? Not electronically? Well, I gather EPO intends to drag itself into the previous decade and plans to provide some electronic way to receive your ISR/WOs.
Yes, an extremely important webinar will take place about 24 hours from now. Yes, I am giving you a mere 24 hours’ advance notice on this one. Sorry about that. Continue reading “Sign up for tomorrow’s EPO webinar on PCT”
Intellectual property is all around us, in so many ways. One of my favorite films, made in 1949, has counterfeit penicillin as its MacGuffin. Who will be the first reader to name the film and, perhaps, to post a comment about it? Continue reading “A movie about counterfeit penicillin”