Bluesky: @oppedahl.com
Yes, if you feel the need to protect your privacy at the Trademark Office, the price continues to be $100.
Today the Commissioner for Trademarks granted another of my petitions asking that I not be required to reveal to Trademark Office employees where I sleep at night. You can see the granted petition here.
Maybe you wondered which IP firm in Norway is the most trendy, modern and up-to-date. Now we know. It’s Oslo Patentkontor AS. The way that we know this is that Oslo Patentkontor was the first firm to fulfill a challenge in the sophisticated use of WIPO’s DAS system. Continue reading “Which IP firm in Norway is the most trendy, modern and up-to-date?”
Hello, readers in the US.
You know those notifications that you receive from WIPO about your Madrid Protocol cases? Those notifications from WIPO about your Madrid cases that do not tell you your attorney docket number?
Don’t you wish that each such notice would tell you your attorney docket number? Don’t you get very tired of having to go on a treasure hunt every time you receive such a Madrid notice from WIPO, to try to figure out what the attorney docket number is?
Maybe you wonder if there is some good reason why such notices do not tell you your attorney docket number.
There is a reason. If you’d like to know, read on. Continue reading “A Madrid Protocol thing that USPTO needs to do as Office of Origin”
I am delighted to be able to report not only that the Austrian Patent Office has joined DAS, but that it will be participating as an Accessing Office in every way that it is possible to participate, and it will be participating as a Depositing Office in every way that it is possible to participate.
This participation will commence October 1, 2020.
(Update: At the end of this article which I posted yesterday, I described a programming mistake in the newly released MAA software from WIPO. I wondered how long it would take for WIPO to get it fixed. Not even 24 hours have passed and already I received an email from a nice person at WIPO letting me know that they had fixed the problem. I tested and indeed it has been fixed.)
WIPO has just announced its new Madrid Application Assistant. Here is how WIPO describes it:
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has launched the Madrid Application Assistant, which automatically records all the information required to complete an international application.
The Madrid Application Assistant is the latest improvement to the service level of the Madrid Registry as part of WIPO’s drive to enhance the creation and management of trademark rights under the Madrid System.
You can see Information Notice No. 53/2020 and you can see a “learn more” page about the Madrid Application Assistant.
What exactly is this new Madrid Application Assistant? What is the problem, if any, for which the new Madrid Application Assistant is the solution? Who can use this tool? Is it a good idea to use this tool? Can applicants in the United States use this tool? How will this new tool affect US trademark practitioners? I will try to answer these questions. Continue reading “The new Madrid Application Assistant”
What do I have in common with Robert De Niro? Continue reading “What I have in common with Robert De Niro”
(Updated to include link to USPTO’s 411 page.)
It seems that all USPTO systems are broken.
Members of the EFS-Web listserv, the Patentcenter listserv, and the e-Trademarks listserv (each of which you should join if you have not done so already) are reporting that all USPTO systems are broken just now.
Here is the link to USPTO’s 411 page: https://www.uspto.gov/blog/system411/ . Right now it says:
USPTO is experiencing an enterprise wide issue. Users are reporting being unable to connect to the USPTO network and receiving the error “revocation status of the smartcard could not be determined”. Support groups are troubleshooting this situation, but other impacts include share drive mapping issues, SharePoint access issues, and other applications may have impacts as a result of this situation. Users are advised not to contact the Service Desk at this time. Due to the High Call Volume that the OCIO Service Desk is experiencing, there are reports of some users receiving busy signals when calling.
(Update: a letter has been sent. See blog article.)
On July 2, 2019, the Trademark Office at the USPTO published a Final Rule stating that as of August 3, 2019, a trademark applicant would be required to reveal where he or she sleeps at night. I found this shocking at the time, and even now after the passage of almost a year, my sense of shock has not subsided.
What is this current status of this “tell us where you sleep at night?” requirement? Where did it come from exactly? To what extent can an applicant somehow protect his or her privacy and hold back from having to reveal where he or she sleeps at night?
In this much-too-long blog article I do the best I can to answer these questions. Continue reading “Current status of “tell us where you sleep at night?””
Monday, Monday, 25, 2020 will be a federal holiday in the District of Columbia. This means the USPTO will be closed. This means that any action that would be due at the USPTO on May 25 will be timely if it is done by Tuesday, May 26, 2020.
Last Friday was a meeting of the Trademark Public Advisory Committee, and USPTO trademark management gave a presentation. You can see the slide deck here. Slide 15 is particularly interesting for those of us who have been worried about owner email addresses. Continue reading “Trademark Office commits to really masking owner email addresses”