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False statement about DOCX returns to USPTO web site

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It will be recalled (blog article, May 30, 2023) that on May 28, 203, the USPTO had posted a false statement on the USPTO web site.  The USPTO said:

The USPTO strongly recommends submitting Specification, Claims, and/or Abstract in DOCX format which provides better data accuracy.

On May 29, a listserv member posted the question “Isn’t this false advertising or improper legal advice?” and a few hours later, the false statement disappeared from the USPTO web site.

Now on June 19, 2023, the false statement has quietly returned to the USPTO web site.  Quoted above is a screen shot taken on June 19, 2023 from USPTO’s Patentcenter web site.  Continue reading “False statement about DOCX returns to USPTO web site”

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Another submission to the CAFC on “where you sleep at night”

It will be recalled that there is an appeal pending before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on “where you sleep at night”.  Many months ago, the USPTO had filed a brief in that appeal, representing to the Court that it was protecting the “where you sleep at night” domicile addresses of trademark applicants from exposure to the public.  And it will be recalled that recently the USPTO revealed that for more than three years, it had failed to protect the “where you sleep at night” domicile addresses of applicants from exposure to the public, despite having promised to do so.  In other words, the representation in that brief was untrue.  The Associate Solicitor of the USPTO wrote a letter to the CAFC that sort of admitted this (blog article).

Now the appellant has filed a letter response.  You can see it here.  It is interesting reading.

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Learn how to receive ISA/EP correspondence electronically rather than by postal mail

Do you sometimes pick ISA/EP when you file a PCT application?  Is it a source of frustration that the communications from ISA/EP arrive only slowly, via postal mail, rather than electronically?  Would you like to learn how to set things up with an electronic EPO mailbox so that you can receive your ISA/EP communications electronically instead of by slow postal mail?  Continue reading “Learn how to receive ISA/EP correspondence electronically rather than by postal mail”

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USPTO breaks its promise about protecting “where you sleep at night” domicile addresses

The USPTO sent out email messages today reporting what it calls a “Data Security Incident”.  It turns out that the USPTO, which promised it would keep the “where you sleep at night” domicile addresses of trademark applicants safe and secure, instead revealed all of the “where you sleep at night” addresses in all of the USPTO’s APIs and bulk data products by which data miners collect data from the USPTO, over a period stretching from February of 2020 to March of 2023.

Astonishingly, CIO Jamie Holcombe tells us that he “fixed” the problem.  Continue reading “USPTO breaks its promise about protecting “where you sleep at night” domicile addresses”

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GM follows Ford in partnering with Tesla supercharger network

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General Motors announced today that it will partner with the Tesla supercharging network.  This comes on the heels of Ford’s announcement of a couple of weeks ago that it had done so.

You can see a blog article in a writing style much like mine that talks about these developments.   It predicts that more US EV makers will follow suit.  As time goes on, fewer and fewer cars will use the big, awkward, heavy CCS1 plug for fast charging, if this blog article turns out to be correct.

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Time to file comments on DOCX yet again

(Update:  nine comments got filed.)

This has been a busy week for Federal Register notices by the USPTO that relate to the ill-fated DOCX patent application filing initiative.  We already knew about two Federal Register notices about this:

    • 88 FR 36956 dated June 6, 2023, blinking a fourth time on the start date for the $400 non-DOCX penalty, and
    • 88 FR 37036 dated June 6, 2023 blinking a second time on the ending date for the ability to file an “auxiliary PDF” file by which the applicant may try to protect against USPTO errors in rendering DOCX files.

Now comes a third Federal Register notice:

    • 88 FR 37039 dated June 6, 2023, requesting comments on USPTO’s estimates of the burden that the DOCX application filing initative will impose upon applicants.

In this blog article I briefly discuss this third FR notice.  In a later blog article I will discuss this third FR notice in greater detail.  Continue reading “Time to file comments on DOCX yet again”