I was on airplanes much of last week when this petition got filed and that is my excuse for missing it. I have now had an opportunity to read the petition, filed by the Software Freedom Conservancy and signed by professional colleague Pamela Chestek. I am in awe of the amount of work and wordsmithing that went into this petition, which is well written both as a legal document and as a get-your-attention plain-English document. This petition communicates, much more clearly and directly than anything I have written (see blog article and blog article), the wrongheadedness and harmfulness of the recent rulemaking and drafting of examination guidelines by the Trademark Office at the USPTO relating to forcing applicants to reveal their domicile addresses.
My hope is that decisionmakers in the office of the Commissioner for Trademarks will read this petition and will take it to heart.
Carl – this petition isn’t the sort of thing that I would normally take the time to read, but your blog post piqued my interest. I very much agree that the document strikes a great balance between legal and plain language. I particularly liked the examples used, which illustrate the petitioner’s position very well. I see that Pamela Chestek has a blog at https://propertyintangible.com – my first impression is that her posts there are similarly well written.
Thank you so much!