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Reducing professional risk with USPTO’s DOCX initiative — two webinars

Update:  two more recent webinars took place and recordings are now available.

The USPTO continues to present webinars, by now every two days or so, containing pants-on-fire lies about “the DOCX standard” and how safe it supposedly is to file US patent applications according to the USPTO’s DOCX initiative. As of the present time, USPTO’s stated plan is to start charging a $400 surcharge on June 30, 2023 for those filers who fail to use the DOCX initiative.

Attend either or both of two upcoming webinars to get the other side of the story.  Attend either or both of the two webinars to appreciate the professional liability risks of filing in DOCX.  Attend either or both of the two webinars to learn how to reduce the professional liability risks.

To learn more about the webinars, or to register, click here.

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Five more ePCT webinars available for signup

Many readers have signed up for the first eight webinars about ePCT.  (Details here.)  Now I have scheduled dates for five more of the webinars.  Here are the dates and times, and here are the links to register:

    • Webinar 9.  Thursday, April 27, 2023, 10AM Mountain Time.  Filing a new US PCT application in RO/IB using ePCT.  Click to register.
    • Webinar 10.  Tuesday, May 2, 2023, 10AM Mountain Time.  ePCT actions and communications with the IB.  Click to register.
    • Webinar 11.  Thursday, May 11, 2023, 10AM Mountain Time.  External signatures and PCT declarations.  Click to register.
    • Webinar 12.  Thursday, May 18, 2023, 10AM Mountain Time.  Sequence listings and ePCT.  Click to register.
    • Webinar 13.  Thursday, June 1, 2023, 10AM Mountain Time.  Docketing of PCT applications and making use of ePCT notifications.  Click to register.  Suggested companion purchase.
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quantum physics and potato batteries

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I have aways sort of vaguely assumed that at some point in my youth I must have sat in a class in which the teacher made a potato battery and used it to light up a light bulb.  Recently I got it into my head that it might be interesting to reconstruct that old classroom demonstration.  But events of the past few days, recounted in this blog article, make me think that the old classroom demonstration must have never actually happened.  I must have just read about it in books and I must have sort of assumed that you could do, in real life, anything that is described in a book.  After many false starts, I did eventually manage to light up a light with a potato battery.  Continue reading “quantum physics and potato batteries”

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Backlog in the Post-Reg Branch at the USPTO

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To avoid cancellation, a US trademark registration needs to be renewed every ten years.  Within the USPTO it is the Post-Registration Branch that has responsibility for reviewing and accepting renewals.  The backlog at the Post-Reg Branch is worse than ever, and the USPTO’s dashboard does not accurately report the magnitude of the backlog.  Continue reading “Backlog in the Post-Reg Branch at the USPTO”

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Time of day at the IB returns to normal for US filers

Two weeks ago I blogged (see blog posting) that US filers filing PCT applications in RO/IB needed to pay extra close attention to what time it is in Switzerland.  (And it was the same for e-filers in the Madrid Protocol system.)  The reason is that in the US, Daylight Saving Time happened on March 12.  But did not happen on that day in Switzerland.  This meant that for the past two weeks, a US-based filer in (for example) the Mountain Time zone would be able to e-file in RO/IB as late as 5PM and still get a same-day filing date.  This differed from the usual drop-dead time of 4PM.

Today (March 26, 2023) is the day that Daylight Saving Time happens in Switzerland.  The consequence of this is that the time difference between the US filer’s time zone and the time in RO/IB is back to normal.  So for a US-based filer in the Mountain Time zone, the drop-dead time returns today to the usual 4PM.

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front-page attorney docket search in Patentcenter has an undocumented feature

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In a previous blog article I discussed the front-page attorney docket number search in Patentcenter.  I pointed out that in the legacy system (PAIR) it was possible to check a box to enter a partial docket number to get one or more matches.  In that previous blog article I noted the conspicuous absence of a corresponding check box in Patentcenter’s front-page attorney docket number search.  I am indebted to alert reader Marc V Richards for somehow figuring out that there is an undocumented feature that sort of makes up for the absence of that check box.  It turns out that you can do wildcard searches.  Continue reading “front-page attorney docket search in Patentcenter has an undocumented feature”