Posts

Posted on

Measuring welding currents

click to enlarge

(followup:  I have now measured more welding currents — blog article)

It will be recalled (blog article) that I recently took a stick-welding course.  I also recently purchased an inexpensive inverter-type welding machine (shown at right), and a neighbor of mine also purchased an inexpensive inverter-type welding machine.

Each welding machine has a rotary knob for picking the welding current.  And each welding machine has a three-digit numerical display.  The question that arose for my neighbor and me was, can we safely assume that the number in the display will be the number of amperes of actual welding current?  The answer turned out to be “no”.  Continue reading “Measuring welding currents”

Posted on

How many have watched the recordings of the 2022 Schwegman lectures?

It will be recalled that in February and March of 2022, thanks to sponsorship of the Schwegman firm, many hundreds of people all around the world were able to attend my lectures about the Patent Cooperation Treaty.  This was a remarkable series of fifteen lectures spread over about six weeks.

The lectures got recorded and the recordings got posted, along with the slides.  This meant that anybody who had missed the live lectures could watch the lectures later, free of charge.  This meant that this generous gift of the Schwegman firm to the world patent community was a gift that kept on giving.   (One place where you can see the recordings and slides is here.)  You might wonder how many have watched the recorded lectures.  Here are some statistics on that.    Continue reading “How many have watched the recordings of the 2022 Schwegman lectures?”

Posted on

Death capacitors

click to enlarge

Readers of this blog are already aware that I enjoyed the movie Glass Onion (blog article), from writer/director Rian Johnson.   At about the time that Glass Onion became available for streaming, it came out that Johnson had just gotten done creating, writing, and directing a ten-episode television series Poker Face (Wikipedia article).  I have greatly enjoyed all five episodes of Poker Face that have aired thus far.

Which brings us to episode four of Poker Face, entitled Rest in Metal.  This episode has a plot element called a “Death Capacitor”.  Which is what I will now discuss. Continue reading “Death capacitors”

Posted on

Yet another Patencenter lapse – metadata failing to match Private PAIR

click to enlarge

It is recalled that one of the requirements for Patentcenter is that it is supposed to replicate the functions of Private PAIR.  Only after this replication is complete would USPTO be entitled to pull the plug on Private PAIR.

The latest lapse, reported by alert listserv member Jill Santuccio, is in the metadata that Patentcenter uses when providing a multi-document download from IFW.  Continue reading “Yet another Patencenter lapse – metadata failing to match Private PAIR”

Posted on

An upcoming USPTO meeting about Patentcenter

As some readers know, the USPTO plans eventually to pull the plug on EFS-Web and Private PAIR, leaving only Patentcenter as the way for USPTO customers to carry out the functions that have in the past been carried out in EFS-Web and Private PAIR.   There are, however, many bugs in Patentcenter.  And there are many features that ought to have been implemented in Patentcenter but have not yet been implemented.  You can see some of the bugs and missing features listed here.  These lists are the result of the hard work of the members of the Patentcenter listserv (learn how to join).  Most of the items on the lists are by now more than two years old.

I am delighted to report that our listserv has managed to secure a meeting with Jamie Holcombe, the Chief Information Officer at the USPTO, to discuss some of the outstanding bugs and missing features.  Continue reading “An upcoming USPTO meeting about Patentcenter”

Posted on

A feature omission in Patentcenter – Track I fees

One of the expressly stated goals for the USPTO developers developing Patentcenter is that every feature and function of EFS-Web and Private PAIR be carried forward into Patentcenter.  Only after this has been accomplished would it be acceptable for the USPTO to pull the plug on EFS-Web or Private PAIR.  Unfortunately, users of Patentcenter frequently encounter situations where some feature of EFS-Web or Private PAIR has been only incompletely carried forward.  This article describes a failure of the developers to fully carry forward all of the features of the Track I workflow.  This harms applicants, as I will describe in some detail.  Continue reading “A feature omission in Patentcenter – Track I fees”

Posted on

Publishing things on SSRN!

It turns out that anybody who wants to, can publish things on SSRN (Wikipedia article).  SSRN, it will be recalled, is an initialism for Social Science Research Network (web site).  To test this out, I created an account at SSRN and uploaded The Fool’s Errand that is DOCX.  You can see it here:  https://ssrn.com/abstract=4346907.  This blog article describes the process and the results.  Continue reading “Publishing things on SSRN!”

Posted on

Maybe some USPTO progress away from bad parts of its DOCX initiative

(An important followup letter got sent on February 14, 2023 to the USPTO — see blog article.)

Readers, I am delighted to be able to report what looks like a bit of progress by the USPTO, away from some of the bad parts of its DOCX initiative.  A meeting took place on February 1, 2023 with some representatives of the patent practitioner listserv committee.  You can read about the meeting below.  Continue reading “Maybe some USPTO progress away from bad parts of its DOCX initiative”