(Note that this article was posted in 2017. The reader should bring himself or herself up to date before proceeding. For example the MPEP now adds a different and supposedly “preferred” fax number. And the amount of the government fee has changed.)
Many readers doubtless already know how to get a faxed Foreign Filing License from the USPTO. But a recent posting on the EFS-Web listserv prompts me to post this article describing the Best Practice for such a request. Continue reading “Getting a faxed Foreign Filing License from the USPTO”
Do you sometimes file a US patent application that claims priority from a Japanese patent application? Do you sometimes give instructions to Japanese counsel to file a Japanese patent application that claims priority from a US patent application? In either case, you need to know about something important that will change on October 1, 2017. 
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. 
A couple of weeks ago I had the great honor to visit at WIPO with the heads of some of the PCT processing teams. These are the people at the International Bureau who interact with callers (applicants and patent practitioners) who have questions and problems relating to PCT. One of the things that they mentioned to me, that I found puzzling when I first heard it, is that in recent months they have received ever-increasing numbers of complaints from people who call to report that they try to send faxes to the International Bureau and are unable to do so. Upon reflection I now realize the likely cause of this problem. And it is definitely not that there is some recent malfunction in WIPO’s fax machines.