In the community of US practitioners who regularly enter the US national phase from a PCT application, it is a well-known problem that it takes an unreasonably long time for the USPTO to mail out a Filing Receipt. There is, I am sorry to say, a dirty little secret way to get prompt filing receipt in such cases. Normally I do not make use of it, but just now I plan to use it in one of my cases. Continue reading “Getting a prompt Filing Receipt in a 371 case?”
US filers and filing at WIPO and daylight saving time
Keep in mind that most locations in the US will turn off daylight saving time today (November 6, 2022), but today is not the day that Switzerland will turn off daylight saving time. (Switzerland turned off DST a week ago.)
Those who are filing documents at the International Bureau — documents that need a same-day filing date — should check to make sure they know what time it is in Switzerland as of today.
The main point here is that for a US filer, everything is now “back to normal”. Whatever time zone offset a US filer is accustomed to between his or her time zone and Geneva, that offset is back to normal.
ePCT will tell you what time it is in Switzerland.
Which ePCT topics you want me to teach sooner than others!
Yesterday I posted a blog article asking readers to let me know which ePCT topics they want me to teach sooner than other topics. I listed fifteen topics. I provided a very long and tedious questionnaire by which readers could indicate their personal rankings of the fifteen topics, as “urgent” or “average urgency” or “not urgent”. Fifty-four readers responded, for which I am quite grateful. Here you can see what they said: Continue reading “Which ePCT topics you want me to teach sooner than others!”
Which ePCT topics do you want me to teach sooner than others?
Update! You can see the results here.
Hello dear readers. How time flies! It was a mere ¾ of a year ago that I announced (blog article) my plans to teach fifteen webinars on ePCT topics (as distinguished from PCT topics). Now I really plan to get moving on these webinars. I should mention that these webinars will be free of charge, thanks to sponsorship from WIPO. Now what I ask is that readers please tell me which ePCT topics they want me to teach sooner than others. Continue reading “Which ePCT topics do you want me to teach sooner than others?”
Daylight saving time and WIPO
Keep in mind that Switzerland will turn off daylight saving time today, October 30, 2022. Those who are filing documents at the International Bureau — documents that need a same-day filing date — should check to make sure they know what time it is in Switzerland as of today.
For US filers, keep in mind that the US will not turn off DST today. The US will turn off DST a week from now, on November 6, 2022.
US filers who are getting ready to file a document at the IB should thus pay close attention during this next week to what time it is in Switzerland.
Most readers of my blog will appreciate that the correct terminology is not “Daylight Savings Time” but “Daylight Saving Time”.
The practical effect for most US filers is that for the next week, you get an extra hour to e-file. For example if you are in the Mountain Time Zone, normally you rush to file by 4PM if need a same-day filing date at the IB. But for the next week you can file as late as 5PM and you will still get a same-day filing date at the IB.
With ePCT, always have at least two kinds of 2FA
There are quite a few ways to set up two-factor authentication in ePCT. Last week there was a problem with the SMS-type 2FA in ePCT, and users who had failed to set up a second type of 2FA found themselves unable to log in. This offers a reminder that you should always have at least two types of 2FA set up with your WIPO user ID. I am delighted to report that I have successfully gotten it set up so that I can use my EPO smart card as a form of 2FA in ePCT. Continue reading “With ePCT, always have at least two kinds of 2FA”
YANTAePCT (Yet Another Nice Thing About ePCT)
From time to time I have commented upon nice things about ePCT. Here is one more. Continue reading “YANTAePCT (Yet Another Nice Thing About ePCT)”
See and hear me at the NAPP Annual Meeting and Conference
Yes, today and tomorrow I will be speaking at the Annual Meeting and Conference of the National Association of Patent Practitioners in Denver, Colorado. Continue reading “See and hear me at the NAPP Annual Meeting and Conference”
More on the PCT letter from 42 practitioners to Director Vidal
Hello dear readers. It will be recalled that on April 26, 2022, 42 PCT patent practitioners from the PCT Listserv signed and sent a letter to USPTO Director Kathi Vidal. The letter (click here to see it) has eight “asks” relating to the Patent Cooperation Treaty. As you can see here, what was really quite encouraging was that a mere two minutes later, Director Vidal responded, saying:
Thank you for reaching out on this … . I appreciate it. I will review it shortly. Kathi.
The part of the USPTO that is in charge of stuff like this is called International Patent Legal Administration (IPLA). A couple of days ago, the phone rang and it was a very nice fellow named Stefanos Karmis, who is the acting director of IPLA. He let me know that Director Vidal has asked him to be the point person on getting back to us on this letter. He asked if I could meet with him by telephone to discuss our “asks”. He and I have set a date of June 2 for a telephone call about this. This is, obviously, an encouraging development and we will want to do what we can to make the most of this telephone call, and whatever might come after that.
Here are some of the things that have taken place as part of preparing for the June 2 telephone call.
We have set up a private listserv for the 42 signers of the letter, so that we can discuss and prepare.
We have set up a Gotomeeting for May 26 for the 42 signers of the letter, so that we can discuss and prepare.
The other 900 or so members of the PCT Listserv who did not sign the letter (now I imagine some are wishing they had gotten off their behinds and signed the letter!) have been invited to get in touch with whichever of the 42 signers they are best acquainted with, to discuss and prepare. There may also be discussions on the PCT Listserv itself for discussions as we lead up to the June 2 phone call.
EPO webinar on PCT for US paralegals and practitioners
On Tuesday, May 10, 2022, the European Patent Office will present a US-specific webinar on PCT topics. Every US practitioner and paralegal who does PCT work should attend. This webinar is free of charge. Continue reading “EPO webinar on PCT for US paralegals and practitioners”