I launched my new podcast server two days ago, and I immediately did what every person does nowadays when they launch a podcast server, which is to submit the “feed” to the well-established aggregators and directory services. These include iTunes, Google Play, TuneIn, and others. Continue reading “Listening to my podcasts on your Amazon Echo”
Winding down PDX – an action step for the USPTO
This past Saturday was a big day for DAS for US design filers and for US utility patent filers, in cases that claim priority from Chinese design and utility applications. The big development was USPTO “pulling the plug” on PDX with respect to the Chinese patent office (blog article on utility patents and blog article on design patents).
The previous “pulling the plug” for PDX was last November 2017 when USPTO pulled the plug on PDX for Japan (blog article).
Now there is more plug-pulling to do. Eventually PDX will be a thing of the past. Continue reading “Winding down PDX – an action step for the USPTO”
A new podcast series about the Patent Cooperation Treaty
I’ve started a podcast series about the Patent Cooperation Treaty. Thus far I have recorded three episodes. I’m guessing it will take about forty episodes to cover all of the things that I want to cover. I’m making these podcasts available free of charge. To make this work I have set up a podcast server which you can see here. Continue reading “A new podcast series about the Patent Cooperation Treaty”
Fourteen podcasts about basic patents
Back in about 2010, I delivered a lecture series on basic patent practice in the US.
Of course the lectures are not up to date. But much of what I discussed in the lectures is basic stuff that is as true today as it was then. Maybe the lectures would be of some help to a new lawyer or new paralegal.
I have posted the lectures to my new podcast server. Continue reading “Fourteen podcasts about basic patents”
Sixteen podcasts about basic trademarks
Back in about 2010, I delivered a lecture series on basic trademark practice in the US.
Of course the lectures are not up to date. But much of what I discussed in the lectures is basic stuff that is as true today as it was then. Maybe the lectures would be of some help to a new lawyer or new paralegal.
I have posted the lectures to my new podcast server. Continue reading “Sixteen podcasts about basic trademarks”
A very handy new way to communicate with ISA/KR
If your PCT clients sometimes pick ISA/KR (the Korean Intellectual Property Office or KIPO), then you might like to learn about a very handy new way to communicate with ISA/KR.
The handy new way to communicate with ISA/KR is through ePCT, as I will describe. Continue reading “A very handy new way to communicate with ISA/KR”
Today is the day – US design applications that claim priority from Chinese design applications
Today is the day that USPTO is pulling the plug on the PDX system with respect to the Chinese patent office. As a consequence, today is the day that, for the first time, a US design applicant can use the DAS system to obtain an electronic certified copy of a Chinese priority design application.
I blogged about this a few days ago, and you can read more about this development in that blog article.
As of today, for a US design filer, the DAS system makes it possible to retrieve an electronic certified copy of a priority application from the following Offices:
- China
- Spain
- India
Korea became a Depositing Office for designs on July 20, 2018 (blog article). But this is no help for US design filers who wish to claim priority from a Korean design application. Hopefully soon the USPTO will pull the plug on the PDX connection to the Korean intellectual property office, and then US design filers will be able to make use of DAS for Korean priority claims.
EPO search fee just dropped for US filers
The search fee paid in US dollars by US filers for a PCT search carried out by the EPO dropped today. I first reported this to you on July 20, 2018 (blog article).
Previously $2207, it is now $2095.
Today is a big day for US utility filers who are claiming priority from a Chinese utility application
Yes, today is a big day. As I blogged a few days ago, today is the day that you will need to start providing a four-character DAS access code to the USPTO if your US utility patent application claims priority from a Chinese utility patent application (or utility model).
How to get your $400 paper-filing penalty refunded
When the America Invents Act became law, it established a statutory penalty of $400 for the practitioner who failed to e-file a new patent application. ($200 for small entities.) This might best be understood as a Congressional mandate to the USPTO to do whatever was needed to ensure that a backup e-filing server would always be available even if the main e-filing server were to crash.
It will be recalled that there was a massive system outage at the USPTO starting on August 15, 2018. Despite numerous reminders in 2014, 2015, and 2016 to the USPTO to take steps to move the backup server physically away from the main server, USPTO failed to do so, and as a consequence the system outage took down the backup server as well as the main server. During the massive system outage, practitioners thus had no choice but to file their new patent applications on paper. These applications were filed by Priority Mail Express (Rule 10) or were hand-carried to the USPTO. Each such application thus incurred the $400 penalty.
Of course one wishes that USPTO would refund the penalty given that it was USPTO’s fault, not that of the practitioner, that the filer failed to e-file. But during the previous outages, the USPTO had taken the position that because the $400 was statutory, not rule-based, then its hands were tied and it was impossible to refund the $400. During the August 2018 outage, however, Director Iancu posted a message that the USPTO was working on a way to give back the $400. I wondered (blog article) how the USPTO would finesse this.
Now USPTO has posted a Federal Register notice that establishes a policy for getting the $400 back. This blog article discusses the notice and explains how to actually get the money back. Continue reading “How to get your $400 paper-filing penalty refunded”