Category: Trademarks

Posted on

Time of day returns to normal for US filers filing at the International Bureau

Readers will recall my blog post of two weeks ago in which I described that an American filer would (for a limited time of two weeks) have an extra hour during which to file a same-day filing at the IB.  Well, now it’s back to normal.  Now the drop-dead time for e-filing (or fax filing) is the usual 4PM (Mountain Time).

So for your PCT filing at the RO/IB, or your direct filing of a Hague Agreement design application, or your payment of a renewal for a Madrid Protocol international trademark registration, or an Article 19 amendment, or a PCT Demand … it’s back to normal.

Posted on

Learning about “wifi calling”

Today’s blog article is a “tech” article and it is a “trademarks” article. The main point of this blog article is that probably you should activate “wifi calling” on your mobile phone, if you have not already done so.

For most mobile telephone customers in the US, wifi calling has only been available for a few months. So a reader of this blog may be forgiven for having failed to activate this service before now.

What is wifi calling? Continue reading “Learning about “wifi calling””

Posted on

Filing at the International Bureau and Daylight Saving Time

It’s that time of year again.  The time of year when it is important to keep track of the fact that Daylight Saving Time is different in Switzerland from the way it is in the United States.  This is important because you might be in the US, and you might be e-filing (or fax-filing) some document with the International Bureau of WIPO. Continue reading “Filing at the International Bureau and Daylight Saving Time”

Posted on

Who is the Director of the USPTO?

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, by statute, any issued US patent or US trademark registration must be “signed by the Director”.   So the question “who is the Director?” is not an idle question.

As of today (screen shot at right), the Department of Commerce web site still lists the position of Director as “vacant”.

Yesterday’s issued US patents and US trademark registrations bore Michelle Lee’s signature, just as on Tuesdays before.

 

Posted on

Patents and trademark registrations “shall be signed by the Director”

(Corrected thanks to David Boundy, as to which Director succeeded which.)

Normally the statutory requirement that a patent issued by the USPTO, or a trademark registration certificate issued by the USPTO, “shall be signed by the Director” (35 U.S. Code § 153 and 15 U.S. Code § 1057) is sort of boring.  But just now, the USPTO expressly refuses to say who is the Director of the USPTO.  What does this mean for patents and trademark registrations that have issued on recent Tuesdays? Continue reading “Patents and trademark registrations “shall be signed by the Director””

Posted on

Would you like to attend the E-Trademarks reception in Barcelona?

Will you be in Barcelona this May at the time of the annual meeting of the International Trademark Association?  If so, maybe you would like to rub elbows with the savvy and alert people who belong to the E-Trademarks Listserv.  Maybe you would like to attend the Seventh Annual E-Trademarks Listserv reception.  To attend the reception you will need to have one of these spiffy ribbons (see at right) attached to your meeting badge.  To receive one of these spiffy ribbons, just scan the QR code in the ribbon.  Or you can click here.

Posted on

USPTO tackling the “balaclava problem” (part 2)

In the previous blog article I described the “balaclava problem” and gave an example of a real-life trademark application presenting this problem.  In that blog article I described one of the two ways that the USPTO is trying to attack the “balaclava problem”.  In this blog article I describe a second way that the USPTO is trying to attack this problem.

Continue reading “USPTO tackling the “balaclava problem” (part 2)”

Posted on

USPTO tackling the “balaclava problem” (part 1)

Trademark filers are familiar with the “balaclava problem”.  When I say the “balaclava problem” I mean the many US trademark registrations in which the listing of identified goods or services in a particular trademark class is a listing of all possible goods or services in that class.  The USPTO has launched two recent initiatives which are intended to try to fight the “balaclava problem”.  This blog article discusses one of the initiatives and the next blog article discusses the second of the initiatives.

Let’s first give a real-life illustration of the “balaclava problem”.  As an example consider the 721 items of goods in class 25 (clothing) for this application, which is presently pending before the USPTO: Continue reading “USPTO tackling the “balaclava problem” (part 1)”