Category: PCT

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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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Does the USPTO give you the same examiner as in the PCT?

(Updated to reflect that Forty-two patent practitioners have asked Director Vidal to make it so.  See blog post and update below.)

A member of the PCT Listserv asks “does USPTO give you the same Examiner in a US national application and in the corresponding PCT application?”  This is a very interesting question and has several sub-questions to it. Continue reading “Does the USPTO give you the same examiner as in the PCT?”