Category: Patents

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Learning to be paperless with PCT (Covid-19 issues) – slides and recording

Hello faithful readers.  On March 30 WIPO announced that it was ceasing the mailing of paper relating to PCT applications due to the work-from-home challenges from Covid-19.  On that day I announced that I would be presenting a webinar on how to become paperless with PCT.  The webinar took place.  There was a lot of very helpful audience participation and I think the webinar went well as a consequence.

You can download the slides here and you can view a recording of the webinar here.

Please post comments below.

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Upcoming webinars

Here are some webinars that I plan to offer in the next few weeks. If you want to be sure to hear about it when I schedule a particular webinar, please be sure to subscribe to this blog.  To hear about upcoming PCT-related webinars, be sure to subscribe as well to the PCT listserv.

  • Get Patents Fast
  • Don’t end up like the owner of that CRISPR patent
  • Docketing PCT
  • Picking a PCT Searching Authority
  • Picking a PCT Receiving Office
  • Making smart use of PCT Declarations
  • National phase or bypass continuation?
  • Sequence listings

Maybe there are other topics you would also like to see. If so, post a comment below or drop me an email.

 

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Learning to be paperless with PCT (Covid-19 issues)

(Followup:  You can download the presentation slides and you can view a recording of the webinar.  For more information see this blog article.)

Many readers of this blog are already set up to be paperless in all of their PCT activities.  This blog article is directed specifically to those who had not, until now, gotten set up to be paperless with PCT.  Such filers are affected by this announcement today from WIPO:

Due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the operations of the International Bureau and of postal systems worldwide, the International Bureau, also in its function as receiving Office, has suspended the sending of PCT documents (e.g. PCT Forms, letters) on paper.

If you are a filer who has not, until now, gotten set up to be paperless with PCT, then I strongly urge you to attend two free webinars which will take place on Wednesday, April 1 and Thursday, April 2.  In these webinars, you will:

  • Learn how to get a WIPO user ID and password for access to ePCT, the electronic system for PCT applications.
  • Learn why each person in your office must have his or her own WIPO user ID and password (no sharing)
  • Learn how to set up two-factor authentication on your WIPO user ID and password (what WIPO calls “strong authentication”).
  • Learn how to do e-handshakes with colleagues in your office so that you can give each other access to files.

In your existing and pending PCT applications, maybe you have not already provided an email address which WIPO and the International Searching Authority and the International Preliminary Examining Authority can use to send you correspondence electronically rather than on paper.  In this webinar, learn how to provide such an email address to WIPO for this purpose for your existing and pending PCT applications.

The ePCT system has a function that is similar to Private PAIR in that it permits you to see the content and status of your pending PCT applications even if they have not yet been published, just as Private PAIR lets you see the content and status of your pending US application.  In this webinar, learn how to gain access to your pending PCT applications in ePCT.  In other words, learn how to use the feature of ePCT that is similar to Private PAIR with your existing and pending PCT applications.

When you file a new PCT application tomorrow or next week, you simply must file it in such a way that you will be able to see it in the part of ePCT that is similar to Private PAIR.  In this webinar, learn what you need to do when you are filing a new PCT application so that you will be able to see it in the part of ePCT that is similar to Private PAIR.   

Going forward, you absolutely need to not send anything on paper to WIPO.  In this webinar, learn how to use the DAS system to send electronic certified copies of priority applications to WIPO (instead of physical certified copies).  Learn how to use ePCT to send other communications to WIPO.  Learn the difference between “ePCT actions” and “ePCT uploads” and learn which is better for you to use.

  • To register for the free-of-charge Part-1 webinar, click here. 
  • To register for the free-of-charge Part-2 webinar, click here.

Please understand that the Part-1 webinar is an absolute prerequisite for the Part-2 webinar.  You absolutely must attend Part 1 if you are going to attend Part 2.

Your presenter is Carl Oppedahl.  Carl has lectured frequently about Best Practices for e-filing of PCT applications.  

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In the US, does an employer own an invention made by an employee?

A very bright European patent practitioner asked this in the EFS-Web listserv:

From I know and have been taught, there are no provisions in the US law stipulating that an employer automatically becomes the owner of an invention made by an employee (which is why we have to make sure that assignments are signed and recorded).

Could anyone direct me to the relevant statute in the US law?

His question inspired the blog article that follows. Continue reading “In the US, does an employer own an invention made by an employee?”

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Time of day at RO/IB returns to normal for US filers

On March 8 I blogged that US filers filing documents at the International Bureau needed to pay extra close attention to what time it is in Switzerland.  The reason is that in the US, Daylight Saving Time happened on March 8.  But did not happen on that day in Switzerland.  This meant that for the past three weeks, a US-based filer in (for example) the Mountain Time zone would be able to e-file in the IB as late as 5PM and still get a same-day filing date.  This differed from the usual drop-dead time of 4PM.

Today (March 29, 2020) is the day that Daylight Saving Time happens in Switzerland. Continue reading “Time of day at RO/IB returns to normal for US filers”

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AIPLA spring meeting is canceled

(Updated to include cancellation of the ABA-IPL annual meeting.)

Well it’s official.  The American Intellectual Property Law Association has announced the cancellation of its spring stated meeting which was scheduled for May 6-8 in San Antonio, Texas.

This comes after the cancellation of USPTO Design Day which was scheduled for April 23 in Alexandria, Virginia.  And it comes after the cancellation of the annual meeting of the International Trademark Association which had been set for Singapore in April and then had been shifted to happen in the US in May or June, and has now been rescheduled for November at some unspecified date and city.  

I don’t know whether AIPLA’s decision to pull the plug on its spring meeting was influenced by my report of the results of a survey of meeting attendees about their plans.

The American Bar Association has likewise canceled the American Bar Association Intellectual Property Law section annual meeting, scheduled for April 1-3 in Washington, DC.  

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Help the meeting planners

Hello loyal blog readers.  Imagine how stressful it is right now for the people who are planning the upcoming intellectual property meetings.  INTA had planned its 2020 INTA Annual Meeting for Singapore, and canceled it, saying that it will schedule instead an annual meeting at some not-yet-selected city in the US, in May or June of 2020.  I gather that AIPLA is trying to figure out whether or not to keep in place its AIPLA Stated Spring Meeting presently scheduled for May 6-8 in San Antonio, Texas.  I have no doubt that the planners of the 2020 USPTO Design Day, scheduled for April 23 in Alexandria, Virginia, are wondering about all of this.  I imagine that the planners of the ABA-IPL 2020 Annual Meeting, scheduled for April 1-3 in Washington, DC are also wondering about all of this.  

The planners for those four meetings probably do not feel very comfortable trying to ask their potential attendees what their plans are.  But I can ask questions that they might not feel comfortable asking.  So I will.  And I will aggregate the responses and provide them to the planners of the four meetings.

Did you attend any of these four meetings in the past three years?  Are you thinking about attending one or more of these four upcoming meetings?  If so, please please please answer this short questionnaire and please do so by tomorrow, Wednesday, March 11.  It should only take two or three minutes and your answers might be a big help for the planners of these four meetings.  The questionnaire does not ask for your name or email address.  I will pass along the responses only in aggregated form.  

Thank you.

Carl Oppedahl

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Filing at the International Bureau and Daylight Saving Time

It’s that time of year again.  The time of year when it is important to keep track of the fact that Daylight Saving Time is different in Switzerland from the way it is in the United States.  This is important because you might be in the US, and you might be e-filing (or fax-filing) some document with the International Bureau of WIPO. Continue reading “Filing at the International Bureau and Daylight Saving Time”