Category: Patents

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Webinars to learn about ePCT

Those who handle pending US patent applications are well aware that it is impossible to carry out one’s work competently without knowing how to use Private PAIR to view pending US patent applications and to check the status of such applications. Likewise one needs to know how to use EFS-Web to file new patent applications and to file follow-on papers.

ePCT is the mechanism for viewing pending PCT applications and for checking the status of such applications. ePCT is an important part of the filing of new PCT patent applications and is a crucial part of the filing of follow-on papers in PCT applications.

It is thus extremely important to learn how to use ePCT.  ePCT is extraordinarily feature rich. Here are four webinars which together will explore the 20% or so of the ePCT features which you will use 80% of the time. Continue reading “Webinars to learn about ePCT”

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Time returns to normal for WIPO filings

As I reported a week ago, the usual autumn thing happened with time zones.  A week ago Europe “fell back” with daylight saving time.

Now today the US also “fell back”.

For the past week, US filers had an extra hour available to get a same-day filing date for filings at WIPO.  A US filer could file as late as 5PM (Mountain Time) instead of the usual 4PM, and get a same-day filing date.

Now it is back to normal.  The time of day to keep in mind is once again 4PM Mountain Time.

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Search fee for ISA/RU to increase December 6

The search fee paid by US filers of PCT applications for the Russian searching authority will increase on December 6, 2017 from $482 to $698.  You can see the details here.

This changes slightly the ranking by cost of the various searching authorities available to filers in RO/US.  Here is how the search fees will rank after the fee change of December 6:

  • EP – $2238
  • US – $2080
  • AU – $1688
  • SG – $1552
  • JP – $1372
  • KR – $1114
  • US – $1040 (small entity)
  • IL – $963
  • RU – $698
  • US – $520 (micro entity)

The result of this fee change is that, for the first time in a very long time, the Russian patent office will not be the least expensive searching authority for PCT filers in RO/US.  ISA/US will be the least expensive (but only for a filer that qualifies for micro entity status).

Filers in RO/US tend to pick ISA/EP, ISA/US, or ISA/KR.  It is relatively rare that a US filer will pick ISA/RU (or ISA/AU, ISA/IL, ISA/JP, or ISA/SG).  Nonetheless, for the US filer who is planning to file a PCT application in which ISA/RU is selected, there will be an opportunity to save a little money.  The filer could file on December 5 rather than December 6, and the savings would be $216.

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Ethics CLE webinar for intellectual property

I’ll be offering a webinar about intellectual property ethics.  It is accredited for ethics credit CLE in California and Colorado.  You can read about it here.  Attendees will receive a Certificate of Attendance which might get you CLE credit in other states if you are lucky.

Those who are subscribed to this blog may use coupon code “blog17” between now and November 6 to get a $20 discount on this program.

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For the next week, an extra hour available for WIPO filings

Filers in the Patent Cooperation Treaty, Madrid Protocol, and Hague Agreement systems (utility patents, trademarks, and industrial designs) know that it is important to keep always in mind when midnight will arrive in Geneva, where WIPO is located.

For a PCT filer, this matters because to get a same-day filing date, a PCT application being filed in RO/IB will (usually) need to be filed by 4 PM Mountain Time.  The same is true for filing an Article 19 amendment.  The same is true if you are using ePCT to file a Demand and Article 34 amendment.

For a Madrid filer, this matters among other things for the payment of decade renewal fees.

For a Hague filer, this matters for the the filing of an international design application at the IB.

The point of today’s post is that starting yesterday, and for the next week, you get an extra hour to get a same-day filing date.  The reason is that Europe and the US carry out their daylight saving time transitions on different days that are a week apart.

This means that you could file as late as 5 PM Mountain Time (instead of the usual 4 PM) and still get a same-day filing date.

Things will return to normal a week from now, on November 5, 2016.

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A chance to save a little money on search fees

As I mentioned in an earlier blog article, the fee that ISA/SG charges per invention to carry out a PCT search will increase on November 1, 2017.  The fee charged in US dollars will increase from $1552 to $1645.

This offers an opportunity to save a little money, if a US filer is planning to file a PCT application in the near future and is planning to pick the Singapore patent office as the international searching authority.  Just get the application filed prior to November 1.

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Did Accelerated Examination go away?

It will be recalled that on January 12, 2017 the USPTO published a Federal Register notice proposing to discontinue the Accelerated Examination program.  I blogged about the Federal Register notice here in February of 2017.  Members of the public filed comments in response to the Federal Register notice, as I discussed here in April of 2017.  It is now October of 2017 and one might wonder, what happened to USPTO’s proposal to discontinue AE?   Continue reading “Did Accelerated Examination go away?”

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Can you put your EPF file on a thumb drive?

We all know that two-factor authentication is a Good Thing.  Having said that, we have all known from the moment (thirteen years ago) when USPTO rolled out its awkward Entrust java applet approach for access to PAIR and EFS-Web, that it was a Bad Thing.  Yes it provides two-factor authentication.  But it provides the two-factor authentication in a very poorly designed way.  Every year or so I have blogged (over and over and over again) about the need for USPTO to scrap that Entrust java applet approach in favor of any of a number of much more user-friendly types of two-factor authentication.

Having said all of this, the plain fact is that for thirteen years now, USPTO has stubbornly stuck with this poorly designed Entrust java applet approach for PAIR and EFS-Web that it adopted in 2004.  The approach is tied to an all-important “EPF file” which is the second of the two factors (in addition to a password).  If you don’t have your EPF file with you at the computer where you are trying to log in, or if you misplace the EPF file, or if it expires (which almost always happens without warning) then it is impossible to log in to PAIR or EFS-Web.

Which prompted a member of the PAIR listserv to ask this question:

Is there any reason I can’t store the EPF file on a USB thumb drive? That way I can put it on a physical keychain, use it at any computer, and if it is renewed (whenever that is), I am always using the most recent certificate?

The answer, as I will discuss, is sort of “yes” but with drawbacks.   Continue reading “Can you put your EPF file on a thumb drive?”