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Now and again, usually completely by accident, I learn of some very clever and inexpensive device that solves some problem that previously could only be addressed in some complicated way. The magnetic camber gauge, seen at right, is such a device. Continue reading “Magnetic camber gauges”
(Update: The letter has been sent. See here.)
Hello readers. If one of the things that you do for a living is filing patent applications at the USPTO, then I urge you to take a look at two documents:
Please consider signing the letter.
Thank you.
Carl
(Updated with the US Postal Service delivery.)
Yes, the title says it all. One hundred eleven trademark applicants and practitioners have signed a letter asking Commissioner for Trademarks David S. Gooder to stop demanding to know where trademark applicants sleep at night. You can see the letter here. A courtesy copy of the letter has been emailed to Commissioner Gooder today. The US Postal Service delivered the physical letter on May 31, 2022 at 7:31 AM as you can see here.
Hello dear readers. It will be recalled that on October 12, 2021, forty-eight design applicants and practitioners signed and sent a letter to Karen Young, Director of Technology Center 2900. (This is the Technology Center that examines design patent applications.) The letter (click here to see it) has four “asks” relating to the the examination of US design patent applications.
Yesterday, the phone rang and it was Director Young! Continue reading “More on the letter from Forty-Eight Design Applicants and Practitioners to Director Karen Young”
(Update: the letter has been sent. See blog article.)
Hello, dear readers. This is urgent.
Yesterday, the Trademark Office published 20837 supposedly private email addresses of trademark applicants, even though two years ago it promised the Trademark Public Advisory Committee it would protect those email addresses from public view (blog article).
If the Trademark Office is going to slip up and reveal twenty thousand supposedly private applicant email addresses, then it is only a matter of time before the Trademark Office slips up and reveals a hundred thousand addresses where trademark applicants sleep at night.
And a few of them will be people who absolutely did not want the world to know where they sleep at night, and for very good reasons, and it will be the kind of thing that we will all feel sick to our stomachs about. That’s if we don’t do something about it.
So here it is, a letter for review and possible signature. I want it to land on Commissioner Gooder’s desk right away, while he is still stinging from the realization yesterday that his office published the twenty thousand supposedly private email addresses. I have in mind closing this letter for signature two days from now (Friday) at close of business. So let’s not put this off. Let’s review the letter today and if you are going to sign it, please sign it today. And if you know of somebody else that you think ought to know about this letter, please bring this to their attention today.
To see the letter, and for possible signature, click here.
Today, May 24, 2022, the Commissioner for Trademarks published my client’s secret email address to the world. It is not easy to find polite language to describe how I am feeling right now. This is a part of the Trademark Office’s ham-fisted migration from paper registration certificates to electronic registration certificates. I am very disappointed. Continue reading “Trademark Office breaks its promise to keep applicant email address secret”
Today was the big day for the Trademark Office to make up for lost time. It issued 6001 paper registrations on May 10, then memory-holed them. Then there were around 7000 paper registrations that ought to have been issued on May 17, and that did not happen. Finally today the Trademark Office issued 20838 US trademark registrations. That was about seven hours ago. The registration numbers that got handed out on May 10 were in the range from 6720667 to 6726667. Those were supposed to become paper registration certificates but that never actually happened. (They got memory-holed.) Those registration numbers got handed out again today. In addition, another 14838 registration numbers got handed out today, which were the make-ups from May 17 as well as the registrations that would normally have gotten issued today. The highest registration number that got handed out today is 6741504.
But what did not happen was the actual electronic trademark registration certificates.
Just now, at around 7 AM Eastern Time, the Trademark Office has uploaded the actual electronic trademark registration certificates to TSDR. So now it is actually possible for these 20838 customers of the USPTO to download the actual electronic trademark registration certificates.
You can click here to see the lowest-numbered US trademark registration certificate that the Trademark Office registered today (6720667). You can click here to see the highest-numbered US trademark registration certificate that the Trademark Office registered today (6741504).
It is interesting to note that they are all digitally signed on May 19, 2022 (five days ago) or May 20, 2022 (four days ago). So the certificates were actually created four or five days ago.
Two hours ago, the 6001 documents dated May 11, 2022 that served the purpose of memory-holing the Trademark Office’s registration activities of May 10, 2022 (seen at right) had themselves gone down the memory hole (blog article).
Now they are back.
The USPTO registered about three times as many trademarks today as it would on a usual Tuesday, as may be seen at right. This is a consequence of the “down the memory hole” activity of the Trademark Office on May 10, 2022 (blog article and blog article and blog article). Continue reading “A big registration day at the Trademark Office”
Hello dear readers. It will be recalled that on April 26, 2022, 42 PCT patent practitioners from the PCT Listserv signed and sent a letter to USPTO Director Kathi Vidal. The letter (click here to see it) has eight “asks” relating to the Patent Cooperation Treaty. As you can see here, what was really quite encouraging was that a mere two minutes later, Director Vidal responded, saying:
Thank you for reaching out on this … . I appreciate it. I will review it shortly. Kathi.
The part of the USPTO that is in charge of stuff like this is called International Patent Legal Administration (IPLA). A couple of days ago, the phone rang and it was a very nice fellow named Stefanos Karmis, who is the acting director of IPLA. He let me know that Director Vidal has asked him to be the point person on getting back to us on this letter. He asked if I could meet with him by telephone to discuss our “asks”. He and I have set a date of June 2 for a telephone call about this. This is, obviously, an encouraging development and we will want to do what we can to make the most of this telephone call, and whatever might come after that.
Here are some of the things that have taken place as part of preparing for the June 2 telephone call.
We have set up a private listserv for the 42 signers of the letter, so that we can discuss and prepare.
We have set up a Gotomeeting for May 26 for the 42 signers of the letter, so that we can discuss and prepare.
The other 900 or so members of the PCT Listserv who did not sign the letter (now I imagine some are wishing they had gotten off their behinds and signed the letter!) have been invited to get in touch with whichever of the 42 signers they are best acquainted with, to discuss and prepare. There may also be discussions on the PCT Listserv itself for discussions as we lead up to the June 2 phone call.