Here I offer the slides from today’s PCT Update. Slide 8 talks about the July 1, 2019 rules change which I covered in this blog article.
Training material for the USPTO
(Update: three years later it seems the DO/EO/US people need to be reminded about PCT Declaration Number 4. See blog article.)
I am providing some training material free of charge to the USPTO. The training material, which relates to PCT Declaration Number 4 under PCT Rule 4.17, is prompted by a mistake that a nameless person at the USPTO made in one of our cases today. Continue reading “Training material for the USPTO”
The PCT in 2019: an end of the year update from WIPO
(You can see the slides here.)
(Updated to include some of the topics.)
It has just now been announced that in just about 24 hours, Matthias Reischle-Park of WIPO will deliver a free-of-charge webinar entitled:
The PCT in 2019: end of the year update
I have learned informally what some of the topics will be:
- Rule changes (in force and coming next year)
- color drawings
- best ways to contact the IB without relying on fax
- collaborative search
- WIPO IP Portal
I gather it will last about an hour. My guess is that if you are a PCT enthusiast or power user, you should attend. I plan to attend.
To register for the webinar, click here.
How you learn that your case has been accepted into Collaborative Search & Examination?
Readers will recall my article about Super Patents. If you want to try to get a Super Patent, you have to file a PCT application in one of the participating Receiving Offices and you have to select one of the participating International Searching Authorities (ISAs) and you have to file a form requesting acceptance into the Collaborative Search & Examination (CS&A) pilot program. And you have to get incredibly lucky to get one of the very small number of slots open for applicants in this pilot program.
Which raises the very interesting question — if you do all of these things, how do you find out if you got accepted into the pilot program? How do you find out whether your PCT application will receive an International Search Report and Written Opinion that resulted from the collaborative effort of five International Searching Authorities?
Just now I was delighted to learn that one of our firm’s clients got one of the small number of coveted slots in CS&E. But how did we learn this good news? How, as a general matter, does one learn that one has been accepted into this pilot program? Maybe you already knew the answer, but I did not. I was astonished at the answer. Continue reading “How you learn that your case has been accepted into Collaborative Search & Examination?”
Be sure to participate in WIPO’s 2019 PCT User Survey
Every two years, WIPO surveys its users. WIPO’s goal is to help determine which areas of the PCT services provided by the International Bureau could be improved. If you would like to make sure that you receive this year’s questionnaire when WIPO has it ready, follow the instructions in this article from the November 2019 PCT Newsletter.
e-filing at WIPO — back to normal
For the past week the situation for e-filing at WIPO, for most people in the US, has been that the local time to e-file so as to get a same-day filing date in Switzerland has been different from usual. (The reason for this is that a week ago, people in Switzerland turned their clocks back.) But as of today, people in the US have turned their clocks back. So things are back to normal.
For example if you are in the Mountain time zone, once again as of today you will be counting toward 4PM local time to get a same-day filing date in Switzerland. (For the past week the answer was 5PM.)
Time zones and ePCT
Yesterday I blogged about the fact that Europe and US do their daylight saving time changes on different weekends: E-filing at WIPO – you get an extra hour. This prompted Ann Bardini of WIPO to write to me to offer a reminder of some of the features of ePCT that help users to keep track of when midnight is coming and when a filer’s last possible filing date is imminent. With her permission I have more or less converted her email message into the following guest blog posting. Continue reading “Time zones and ePCT”
e-filing at WIPO – you get an extra hour
It’s that time of year again. People in the US who sometimes e-file stuff at the International Bureau at WIPO will have memorized exactly what the local time is that works out to being midnight in Switzerland … and for the next week, the answer to this question will be different from the usual answer. Continue reading “e-filing at WIPO – you get an extra hour”
Samoa Joins the Patent Cooperation Treaty
On October 2, 2019, Samoa deposited the Instrument of Accession to the Patent Cooperation Treaty with the International Bureau of WIPO. This means that the PCT will come into force for Samoa on January 2, 2020.
This brings to 153 the number of member States for the PCT.
Samoa already belongs to Madrid Protocol. Samoa has joined the Hague Agreement at the same time as the PCT. So on January 2, 2020 Samoa will achieve the trifecta for international filing mechanisms.
The two-letter code for Samoa is “WS”.
Argentina is getting ready for a PCT Receiving Office?
(Update on March 1, 2020: since the date of this blog article, WIPO has updated its Participating Offices web page to say that INPI’s participation that will commence on March 2, 2020 is only as to national patent applications, not also as to PCT applications.)
I am fascinated to see the following information on the DAS page of the WIPO web site:
What this says is that starting on March 2, 2020 (a mere five months from now), the RO/AR will be a Depositing Office for the WIPO DAS system. What is interesting about this is that for RO/AR to be a Depositing Office, the RO/AR would have to exist by March 2, 2020. And for RO/AR to exist, Argentina would have to join the PCT by March 2, 2020. So I guess the DAS people at WIPO know something that I don’t about Argentina’s plans to join the PCT.