We’re just wrapping up the AIPLA PCT Road Show that started yesterday and finishes today — the road show in Westminster, Colorado. As so often happens, we (the faculty) have been blessed with an alert audience that has lots of good questions. Tomorrow is travel day …
Astonishingly good system integration at WIPO
Just now I e-filed a PCT patent application in the Receiving Office of the International Bureau. I did this using WIPO’s ePCT system. And a mere sixty seconds later, I was able to click and see a draft of the front page of what will eventually be the eighteen-month publication, all the way down to the date (February 5, 2015) that it will probably be published. I am astonished at the level of integration among WIPO’s various systems that must have been accomplished to make this possible. Indeed there are half a dozen good things about this e-filing experience that deserve comment.
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Sign up before July 16 for the 18th annual AIPLA PCT Seminar
It’s July again, which means it is time for another AIPLA PCT Seminar. This will be the 18th annual offering of the Seminar. The Seminar will take place in Denver, Colorado on Monday and Tuesday July 21 and 22, and it will be offered a second time in Arlington, Virginia on Thursday and Friday July 24 and 25. I will be among the faculty of this Seminar. If the Seminar will take place a week from now, why is it so important to sign up before July 16?
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USPTO could be nicer to PDX and DAS users
(Further update: We win! As you can see here, the Commissioner answered our letter. The USPTO says it will stop the foot-dragging on retrieval of electronic certified copies.)
(Update: A letter got sent on February 22, 2020 to the Commissioner for Patents at the USPTO, asking the USPTO to stop its foot-dragging on retrieval of electronic certified copies from DAS and PDX. See blog post.)
If you fail to get your certified copy of your foreign priority application into the hands of the USPTO by sixteen months, you’ve lost your priority claim and will have to file a petition to get it back. Suppose you try to do this electronically and inadvertently get it wrong? USPTO’s present policy is to wait until past sixteen months to let you know. That’s not nice, and USPTO needs to change its policy.
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“PCT at the EPO” – important conference in October at The Hague
This October the European Patent Office will offer a two-day educational conference PCT at the EPO 2014. To learn more, and to register, go to the brochure page. This conference will take place at The Hague.
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PPH? Why not use Track I?
The EFS-Web listserv is for patent practitioners before the USPTO. A recent series of postings prompted me to offer a reminder of the potential benefits of PCT-PPH, and prompted a list member to ask:
If you are going to pay the cost of filing a PCT, why not just file TRACK I?
Here are my suggestions why I recommend not using Track I.
Three more reasons why you should use ePCT
In previous postings I have mentioned reasons why filers should use ePCT, WIPO’s system that lets you see the status and content of your pending PCT applications. Here are three more reasons.
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For those filing at WIPO, a time zone change
The US and Europe do not agree on when to start and when to stop Daylight Saving Time. The US started DST on March 9, 2014, and Europe started DST today, March 30. This is important for US filers who file things at WIPO.
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Hello Michigan intellectual property practitioners!
This coming Monday, March 24, I will be at the Kellogg Center of Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, speaking at the 2014 Intellectual Property Law Spring Seminar sponsored by the The Intellectual Property Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan. My topic is “PCT Practice Tactics and Strategies”.
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Why the smart US filers are filing in RO/IB this weekend
Many US patent filers always file their PCT applications in RO/US, and many US patent filers don’t know how to file a PCT application anywhere else (such as RO/IB). But during the four-day period from March 14 to March 17, smart US patent filers are filing their PCT applications in RO/IB using ePCT rather than RO/US using EFS-Web.
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