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How to use “assignee type code” in Patent Public Search?

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In an earlier blog article I highlighted the profound inadequacy of the user documentation for USPTO’s Patent Public Search system.  Here is yet another example of this inadequacy.  In the screen shot above I quote, in its entirety, the USPTO’s user documentation for the search field “ASTC”.  I defy any public user of USPTO’s Patent Public Search system to make any sense of this inadequate documentation.  What, pray tell, do you get if the “assignee type” that you search for is “02”?  What other numerical values can be searched for, and what do they mean?  Continue reading “How to use “assignee type code” in Patent Public Search?”

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Extracting toteboard numbers from USPTO’s “Patent Public Search”

Each year, US patent practitioners need to count up how many patents they obtained for clients in the previous year, for submission to the toteboards.   What naturally comes to mind is the idea that maybe the USPTO’s Patent Public Search would permit a practitioner to get the answer.  But USPTO’s Patent Public Search has, objectively, the worst search user interface that one could devise.  Scroll to the end to see how you might use Patent Public Search to get your numbers for the toteboards.

Continue reading “Extracting toteboard numbers from USPTO’s “Patent Public Search””

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Something I should have enabled a long time ago — media mail postage

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In our law firm shopping cart we sell a lot of books.  For as long as I can recall, each book purchaser has at to pay at least ten dollars’ postage to get a book from us.

Finally today I got a clue and realized that if I were to try hard enough I could probably figure out how to configure our law firm shopping cart to offer “book rate” as a shipping option.  Continue reading “Something I should have enabled a long time ago — media mail postage”

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Specially discounted copies of second edition of PCT Forms and Docketing book

Hello dear reader.  This is your opportunity to purchase a discounted copy of Oppedahl on PCT Forms and PCT Docketing, second edition.  Instead of the usual $89 price, you get get this copy for $59 off.   What’s the hitch?  The hitch is that the table of contents is defective if the book was printed prior to January 19, 2025 (see blog article).  And you get to purchase one of these defective copies at a $59 discount.  Continue reading “Specially discounted copies of second edition of PCT Forms and Docketing book”

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It’s time to get in your numbers for the 2024 toteboards

Hello readers.  It is now 2025 and this means it is time to get in your numbers for the 2024 toteboards:

The goal is to recognize and rank law firms in the US based upon the numbers of US design patents, US utility patents, US plant patents, and US trademark registrations each firm obtained for clients in 2024.

The questionnaires will close on Friday, February 14, 2025.

Every year after I post the results of the toteboards, I get sad emails from firms that want me to accept their numbers late.  This would, of course, typically result in kicking other firms down in the rankings — other firms that got their numbers in on time.  Please help to reduce the number of such sad emails that I will receive this year.  Maybe you are a person at your firm who is responsible for getting these numbers in.  If so, please get your numbers in!  Otherwise, please forward this blog posting to somebody at your firm to make sure that somebody at your firm gets the numbers in for your firm.

You can see the previous toteboards here, going back to the earliest toteboard in 2012.

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Yes you get to pick where the next live in-person PCT seminars will be!

Hello PCT enthusiasts.  As I blogged a couple of days ago, you get to pick where the next live in-person PCT seminars will be.  I opened the survey about 48 hours ago.  As of right now, the top-ranked locations are:

    • Phoenix, AZ
    • Chicago, IL
    • San Diego, CA
    • Boston, MA

I will keep the survey open for about another week.  It will be interesting to see if some other cities move upwards in the ranking.

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Corrected table of contents for Oppedahl on PCT Forms and PCT Docketing (second edition)

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Hello dear reader.  Are you one of the 312 people who purchased a copy of Oppedahl on PCT Forms and PCT Docketing (second edition) between December 20, 2024 and today (January 18, 2025)?   If so, then first of all thank you very much!  I earned a royalty from your purchase.  But second of all,  I am sorry to say that your copy of this book has a defective table of contents.  Continue reading “Corrected table of contents for Oppedahl on PCT Forms and PCT Docketing (second edition)”

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The Helvetica Scenario

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Recently I have had reason to try to learn a bit about a type of AI (artificial intelligence) called machine learning.  It turns out that sometimes a researcher in this area will encounter the Helvetica scenario, which is a phenomenon where a machine learning model gradually degrades due to errors coming from uncurated training on the outputs of another model, including prior versions of itself.  The Helvetica scenario, also called “Model Collapse” (Wikipedia article) is a common problem when training generative adversarial networks (GANs) (Machine Learning Glossary).  The natural question for the reader is where this terminology came from?  Continue reading “The Helvetica Scenario”