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How to decide when to destroy an old patent file?

Franconia archive (click to enlarge)

In the EFS-Web listserv, a practitioner posts this question:

We have decided to go paperless for the future and to destroy all of our archived paper files for the period since every application appears on the PTO PAIR Image File Wrapper. Does anyone know what date the PTO began imaging every application filed? I know for a while they were going back and imaging some files, but not all. I want to know after what date we can be confident that the image file wrapper is in PAIR.

In this blog post I will try to answer the “what date” question and I will offer a thought or two about how a practitioner might decide which files can be destroyed.

Continue reading “How to decide when to destroy an old patent file?”

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Gaining incontestability economically

The majority of US trademark registrations lack “incontestable” status, because the owner of the registration has not filed “Section 15” papers at the USPTO.  (I have blogged here about what “incontestable” status means and why a trademark owner might want to gain “incontestable” status.)  In this article I will talk about ways to gain “incontestable” status economically.

Continue reading “Gaining incontestability economically”

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Dulles’s C and D concourse

By Joe Ravi, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

If, like me, you often fly United Airlines to and from Washington, DC, then you have, like me, spent time in the C and D concourse of Dulles Airport. And you have some sense how decrepit and discouraging that concourse is.  The main terminal was designed in 1958 by famed Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen, and it is highly regarded for its graceful beauty, suggestive of flight.  But passengers spend little time in the main terminal.  For United passengers, most time is spent in the C-D concourse. Continue reading “Dulles’s C and D concourse”

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Indonesia joins Madrid Protocol

H.E. Dr. Yasonna Laoly, Minister for Law and Human Rights, Indonesia, and Francis Gurry, Director General, WIPO (click to enlarge)

On October 2, 2017, Indonesia deposited its instrument of accession to the Madrid Protocol at the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization. The Madrid Protocol will thus enter into force for Indonesia on January 2, 2018.

This brings to 100 the number of members of the Madrid system. Continue reading “Indonesia joins Madrid Protocol”

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What’s so great about ePCT?

A member of the PCT listserv asks:

Am I missing something about what is so great about preparing an PCT application package via ePCT?

For most all of my PCT applications, I have to file with the RO/US and elect the ISA/US. Thus, in such a situation, I understand that the only thing ePCT is good for is to prepare the Zip file as one has to use EFS-Web to file the Zip file, the application papers, and pay the fees.

To me, the ePCT interface is cumbersome, more so than the PCT-Safe software.

So, I don’t understand what is so great about ePCT… Can someone enlighten me?

My comments are below. Continue reading “What’s so great about ePCT?”

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Today is the day that PDX changes for Japan

It will be recalled that recently the USPTO announced that it will change the way that electronic certified copies of priority documents are transmitted between the USPTO and the Japanese Patent Office.  The change takes effect today.  Among other things, this will affect how you complete your Application Data Sheet to present a priority claim to a Japanese patent application.

You can read about it in my blog post from September 24, 2017.

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Getting a faxed Foreign Filing License from the USPTO

(Note that this article was posted in 2017.  The reader should bring himself or herself up to date before proceeding.  For example the MPEP now adds a different and supposedly “preferred” fax number.  And the amount of the government fee has changed.)

Many readers doubtless already know how to get a faxed Foreign Filing License from the USPTO.  But a recent posting on the EFS-Web listserv prompts me to post this article describing the Best Practice for such a request. Continue reading “Getting a faxed Foreign Filing License from the USPTO”