Bluesky: @oppedahl.com
I will be teaching a live, in-person Patent Cooperation Treaty seminar October 16-18, 2018 in Redwood City, California.[googlemaps https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d12662.193970662394!2d-122.22871293619356!3d37.49497980044707!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x808fa257364cfbff%3A0xfa2b9aec28116101!2sCourtyard+by+Marriott+Redwood+City!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sus!4v1533600727686&w=600&h=450]
For more information, or to register, click here.
In this article I will describe what I think are Best Practices for filing of US provisional patent applications. Continue reading “Best Practices for filing a US provisional patent application”
A colleague in Minneapolis asked me the other day how long it takes the USPTO to publish an entry into the US national phase.
MPEP § 1120(IV) says:
The projected publication date normally will be the later of: (1) eighteen months from the earliest filing date claimed; or (2) fourteen weeks from the mailing date of the filing receipt. The publication process takes about fourteen weeks.
I identified our most recent half dozen published patent applications that were entries into the US national phase. And another half dozen published patent applications from a year ago that were entries into the US national phase. And arrived at some average publication delays. It was nothing like fourteen weeks.
Continue reading “How long USPTO takes to publish a 371 case”
It is recalled (see blog post of July 20, 2018) that some time ago it was planned that the ISA/RU search fee would decrease. The fee change has now taken place. For US filers, the search fee for the Russian international searching authority decreases today from $691 to $638.
In a previous blog article, I talked about the USPTO’s practice of not reporting pendency numbers bigger than 30. Said differently, if a particular art unit has a backlog that extends further than 30 months into the future, the USPTO will not reveal the actual backlog but will instead report the number 30. In the world of d’Arsonval meter movements, this would be like a meter that is “pegged” at 30.
There are 514 art units at the USPTO. Right now in July of 2018, how many of those art units are “pegged”? Which art units are “pegged”?
In the next blog article I will list some of the art units with the smallest backlogs.
In a previous blog article I listed the fifty art units at the USPTO (out of 514 art units) that are “pegged”. What this means is that the backlog for the art unit is so great that it is longer than 30 months, and the USPTO does not report a number bigger than 30 for the backlog.
What the alert reader might ask is, which are the art units with the smallest backlog? Here is a list of the 49 art units which, in July of 2018, have a backlog of seven months or less. Continue reading “USPTO’s art units with the smallest backlogs”
The way it has been in the past, if a US PCT applicant were to make use of the Japan Patent Office as an International Searching Authority, the applicant would need to make sure that the application falls within particular subject matter (“green tech”). The practical consequence of this was that as a general matter, US filers tended not to select ISA/JP. But things changed on July 1, 2018 and now it is much easier for US filers. Continue reading “ISA/JP becomes easier for US filers to use”
On August 1, 2018 the search fee payable to the Russian international searching authority will drop. It is presently $691 and will drop to $638.
This offers an opportunity to save a little money for the applicant who is planning to use ISA/RU. If you have a client who is planning to file a PCT application using ISA/RU, and if you have the ability to postpone the filing until August 1, you can save $53.
The search fee paid in US dollars by US filers for a PCT search carried out by the EPO will drop on September 1, 2018.
Presently $2207, it will drop to $2095.
For years and years I have been listing the many reasons why USPTO should have scrapped its Entrust login system many years ago.
Now there is yet another reason that USPTO must do this. The USPTO’s Entrust login system relies upon the use of Java from Oracle. And Oracle has made this announcement:
Public updates for Oracle Java SE 8 released after January 2019 will not be available for business, commercial or production use without a commercial license.
I gather the license fee will be $2.50 per user per month.
I fear that USPTO’s way of dealing with this development will be to spend (applicants’) money buying a commercial license from Oracle to cover all users of the Entrust login system.