Yes, folks, Saturday, December 3, 2022 will be the day. Starting December 3, you will only get three months to respond to a USPTO trademark Office Action instead of the usual six months. This article hopefully answers some of your questions about this change. Continue reading “December 3 will be the day — three months for trademark responses to Office actions”
Pacer users to get fees refunded
Hello folks. I am astonished to see the news (see court document) that a court case that had been grinding its way through the courts on for more than five years is apparently very close to being settled. The result of the settlement will, it seems, lead to many people and firms that have paid fees to the Pacer system will get a lot of their fees refunded to them. Our firm has paid many thousands of dollars to the Pacer system over the years. I am sure many other firms can say the same.
I heard about this from alert listserv member Curtis Prescott (Linkedin page). Thank you Curtis!
Two letters that were sent today to Director Vidal
(Update: on January 6, 2023, the Director indirectly responded to these two letters. You can read about it here.)
Hello readers. You will recall that a few days ago I urged you to consider signing two letters to USPTO’s Director Kathi Vidal (blog posting, October 7). Both letters have now been signed and have been sent to Director Vidal.
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- One of the letters is about erroneous information in official Filing Receipts regarding publication dates. You can see the signed letter here.
- The other letter is about missing information in official Filing Receipts regarding whether or not a Foreign Filing License has been granted. You can see the signed letter here.
The chief person who made these letters possible is Krista Jacobsen, a patent practitioner in Silicon Valley. She drafted the letters and finalized them with suggestions from professional colleagues. Many practitioners signed the letters. Today she sent them to the Director. I hope readers will join me in being grateful to Krista for this work.
Of course what also made the letters possible is the many patent practitioners who signed the letters.
Let’s hope that Director Vidal will respond to Krista with good news of corrective steps that the USPTO will take to address the problems that are highlighted in the two letters.
Please sign two letters to the Director
Hello folks. Would you prefer it if the USPTO were to reduce how many mistakes it makes in official patent Filing Receipts? Then please review and sign the following two letters:
- Krista Jacobsen’s letter about publication date errors in filing receipts has by now thirteen signatures. The signers have collectively received over six thousand filing receipts in the past ten years, and have collectively paid over ten million dollars to the USPTO in the past ten years.
- Krista Jacobsen’s letter about missing FFL information has by now ten signatures. The signers have collectively received over five thousand filing receipts in the past ten years, and have collectively paid over seven million dollars to the USPTO in the past ten years.
These letters will close for signature this next Monday at noon Eastern Time. I have signed both letters. Why don’t you join those signers, by signing these two letters yourself?
Carl
CCS charging with a Tesla car
Hello loyal readers. Here is a 4700-word article that I wrote about CCS charging of Tesla cars.
Forcing your fireplace to make nice with home automation
It took a year and a half of various efforts and dead ends, but by now I have actually figured out a way to force the fireplace in the photograph to make nice with a home automation ecosystem. It is a built-in gas-fired fireplace. This article describes the dead ends and the eventual success. Continue reading “Forcing your fireplace to make nice with home automation”
Lightning protection around the house
Of course it is smart to install whole-house surge protection as it relates to the electrical power wires in the house. See blog article. Having installed a nice Seimens FS140 whole-house surge protector, do you get to relax? Of course not! If a person is going to be thorough about this, one needs to think about the other wires and cables that enter the house from outside. Continue reading “Lightning protection around the house”
The “where you sleep at night” Federal Circuit appeal – amicus brief
(Update: The oral argument took place on December 7, 2023 and you can see the transcript here.)
(Update: the appellee’s brief has been filed – blog article.)
(Update: the appellant’s reply brief has been filed – blog article.)
Readers will recall that a few days ago I wrote:
This would be a perfect time for amici to file amicus briefs.
An amicus brief has now been filed in the case about the Trademark Office demanding to know where the trademark applicant sleeps at night (blog article). You can see the amicus brief here.
The “where you sleep at night” Federal Circuit appeal – first brief
(update: an amicus brief has been filed.)
(update: the appellee’s brief has been filed.)
(update: the appellant’s reply brief has been filed.)
Many readers are aware of the keen obsession that the Trademark Office at the USPTO has in knowing where trademark applicants sleep at night. Readers who are familiar with the statutes and rules and accumulated court cases relating to the right and wrong ways to do “rulemaking” may also have gone to the trouble of looking at the steps that the Trademark Office followed in promulgating its rules that, since a couple of years ago, have required applicants to reveal to the Trademark Office where they sleep at night. But perhaps not so many readers are aware that right now there is pending in the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit a case that asks the Court to consider striking down those rules.
There is now an important development in that Court of Appeals case. Continue reading “The “where you sleep at night” Federal Circuit appeal – first brief”
Dummy loads
Readers will recall that I am slowly creeping in the direction of doing some ham radio transmitting.
It turns out that anybody who creeps in this direction sooner or later realizes that he or she is going to need a “dummy load” (Wikipedia article). Continue reading “Dummy loads”