Canada has joined the Madrid Protocol. The Protocol will enter into force for Canada on June 17, 2019. Continue reading “Canada joins Madrid Protocol”
Broken links in “get your numbers in for the toteboards”
Hello readers. After comments from several people I went to look closely at my four recent posts:
- Get your numbers in for the 2018 US plant patent toteboard
- Get your numbers in for the 2018 US design patent toteboard
- Get your numbers in for the 2018 US utility patent toteboard
- Get your numbers in for the 2018 US trademark registration toteboard
Each blog article contains four important links for you to click on:
- a link to the questionnaire where you can enter your numbers for the particular category in that particular blog post, and
- crosslinks to the other three blog posts.
In each case the questionnaire link works fine so far as I am aware. But until today, each place where there was a crosslink to one of the other three blog posts, the crosslink was no good. It asked for a user ID and password instead of taking you to the desired page.
Thanks to alert readers, I have hopefully corrected the crosslinks.
Hopefully everybody will get their numbers in soon.
Get your numbers in for the 2018 US trademark registration toteboard
It’s that time of year again. A year ago we published the 2017 US Trademark Toteboard and before that, the 2016 US Trademark Registration Tote Board and before that, the 2015 US Trademark Registration Tote Board. Now it’s time to get your numbers in for the fourth annual US Trademark Registration Tote Board.
The goal of this toteboard is to list the firms that helped clients obtain US trademark registrations in 2018. The toteboard seeks to list US trademark registrations granted in 2018. The closing date for the questionnaire will be Thursday, March 21, 2019.
You can see the previous Toteboards here.
To learn more and to report your numbers for the 2018 US Trademark Registration tote board, please click here.
It is also time to report your numbers for the 2018 US Design Patent tote board and the 2018 US Utility Patent tote board and the 2018 US Plant Patent tote board.
Whither Daylight Saving Time?
More than five hours have passed since my blog posting that points out that right now you probably have an extra hour for e-filing of stuff at the International Bureau of WIPO. Why do you have this extra hour? You have this extra hour because probably you are in the US and you set your clocks forward. And (this is the important part) the folks in Switzerland did not pick today to set their clocks forward. (They will set their clocks forward in about three weeks, on March 31.)
Anyway, during this past five hours I sort of figured that at least one alert reader would have posted a comment about the imminent demise of Daylight Saving Time. Yet, astonishingly, this has not happened! So I will now discuss the imminent demise of Daylight Saving Time. Continue reading “Whither Daylight Saving Time?”
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 three weeks, the answer to this question will be different from the usual answer. Continue reading “e-filing at WIPO – you get an extra hour”
Who charges how much for foreign payments?
As readers of this blog are by now well aware, my most recent obsession area of inquiry has been the sending and receiving of international bank wires. More or less by accident I have stumbled upon smart ways to receive international bank wires. As I describe in this blog article, more or less by accident our situation is that for our patent firm, we now receive our incoming foreign bank wires free of charge through Afex.com, and for my personal bank account, I receive my incoming foreign bank wires free of charge because the bank is USAA.
As for the foreign sender of funds, if the foreign sender of money to our patent firm happens to be a customer of Afex.com, they can send money to us and they will likewise not have to pay any fee (other than perhaps a currency conversion fee).
But how about sending bank wires? Who charges more and who charges less for sending bank wires to foreign countries? Here is a specific example of what it would cost to send about ten thousand dollars to Switzerland by any of three different providers. I find the price differences to be striking. Continue reading “Who charges how much for foreign payments?”
Today is a snow day at the USPTO
Today, Wednesday, February 20, 2019 is a snow day. This means that any document that you needed to file today at the USPTO will be timely if you file it by tomorrow, Thursday, February 21.
(This might be as good a time as any to subscribe to this blog.)
Save the date – e-Trademarks listserv reception in Boston – May 21
The Ninth Annual e-Trademarks listserv reception will take place on Tuesday, May 21. This will be during the time of the INTA meeting in Boston.
Details will follow. (see here)
Save the date!
USPTO will be closed Monday January 14, 2019
The USPTO will be closed on Monday, January 14, 2019 because of a dusting of snow. (OPM announcement.)
The small amount of snow giving rise to this closure would not even be noticed in other parts of the US such as the high altitudes of Colorado where Oppedahl Patent Law Firm LLC is located. (Oppedahl Patent Law Firm LLC will be open as usual on Monday, January 14, 2019.)
The closing of the USPTO means that any response that would be due on Monday, January 14, 2019 will be considered timely if it is filed by Tuesday, January 15, 2019.
Madrid Portfolio Manager adds nice feature
The nice folks at WIPO who take care of Madrid Protocol stuff have quietly added a nice feature to the Madrid Portfolio Manager, as you can see in the notice at right. Continue reading “Madrid Portfolio Manager adds nice feature”