I am pleased to present the 2023 toteboards:
Three days left to get in your numbers for the 2023 Toteboards
Three days from now will be the end of your opportunity to get your numbers in for the 2023 Toteboards (blog article).
So far we have the following results:
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- For the Trademark toteboard, we have 27 responses accounting for 6321 trademark registrations.
- For the US plant patent toteboard, we have 5 responses accounting for 137 US plant patents.
- For the US design patent toteboard, we have 20 responses accounting for 2111 US design patents.
- For the US utility patent toteboard, we have 22 responses accounting for 11531 US utility patents.
If you have not already gotten your numbers in, now is the time to do it (blog article).
Unauthorized Practice of Law by the USPTO – sample assignments
Ownership of property is a matter of state law, not federal law. Indeed for countries that are not the US, ownership of property is a matter of the law of the country involved. In the face of this, the USPTO has no business giving out legal advice about language to use in a patent assignment or trademark assignment. Continue reading “Unauthorized Practice of Law by the USPTO – sample assignments”
Some of the defects in the new Assignment Center
Earlier today the USPTO released its new Assignment Center, after having shut down the familiar and reliable EPAS and ETAS systems. It is full of bugs and defects. Here are some of the bugs and defects. Continue reading “Some of the defects in the new Assignment Center”
Now available: training slides for son-of-EPAS/ETAS
The USPTO is apparently still planning to shut down EPAS and ETAS at 12:01 AM on Monday, February 5, 2024, and is still planning to release the successor system, called “Assignment Center” (“AC”), at that time.
The USPTO has released training slides for the patent side of AC and training slides for the trademark side of AC. The USPTO has also posted training videos.
Get your numbers in for the 2023 toteboards
Hello colleagues. It is time to get your numbers in for the 2023 toteboards. The toteboards have a goal of recognizing the intellectual property firms that filed the most US utility patent applications, filed the most US design patent applications, filed the most US plant patent applications, and filed the most US trademark applications, and saw them through to issuance and registration.
The submission forms will close toward the end of the day on Friday, February 9, 2024. Please don’t dawdle with this. Please just hand in your numbers and be done with it.
The 2023 toteboards will get published in February of 2024. Every year, we publish the toteboards, and after that, some firm comes in begging and pleading to hand in its numbers late. Please don’t do that. Please hand in your numbers no later than Friday, February 9, 2024!
You can see the past toteboards, including the 2022 toteboards, here.
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- To hand in your numbers for the Ninth Annual utility patent toteboard, click here.
- To hand in your numbers for the Ninth Annual trademark toteboard, click here.
- To hand in your numbers for the Twelfth Annual design patent toteboard, click here.
- To hand in your numbers for the Fifth Annual plant patent toteboard, click here.
Another postponement of son-of-EPAS/ETAS
With no advance warning whatsoever, on the scheduled date for USPTO’s shutdown of EPAS and ETAS, and the scheduled launch of the successor system for recordation of assignments, USPTO has quietly announced a third postponement of the migration. Continue reading “Another postponement of son-of-EPAS/ETAS”
USPTO postpones again, and lies about, and renames, its “son of EPAS/ETAS”
(Update: the migration has now been postponed for a third time, see blog article.)
It’s embarrassing to see the USPTO lying about what it previously said about when it would launch its “son of EPAS/ETAS” system. Continue reading “USPTO postpones again, and lies about, and renames, its “son of EPAS/ETAS””
In “In re Chestek LLC”, oral argument transcript now available
It will be recalled that on December 7, 2023, an oral argument took place before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for In re Chestek PLLC. This appeal relates to the USPTO’s requirement that a trademark applicant reveal to the USPTO where he or she sleeps at night.
A transcript of the oral argument is now available. You can listen to the audio recording of the oral argument here. It is important to realize that the transcript that follows is based upon best efforts, but the authoritative source is the audio recording.
The recording is about 30 minutes in duration. The judges on this panel were:
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- Judge Alan D. Lourie
- Judge Raymond T. Chen
- Judge Kara F. Stoll
The two speakers at the lectern were:
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- Andrew Grossman, for appellant in re Chestek PLLC
- Mary Beth Walker, for appellee the USPTO
As a reminder you can see the appeal briefs here.
The transcript follows.
Continue reading “In “In re Chestek LLC”, oral argument transcript now available”
Where I will be on Thursday morning
(Update: a transcript of the oral argument is now available. )
(Update: how to prepare for the oral argument.)
I plan to attend the oral argument on Thursday, December 7, 2023, as an observer in the case of In re: Chestek PLLC. See Notice of Oral Argument. This will be at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, at Courtroom 203, 717 Madison Place NW in Washington, DC.