Bluesky: @oppedahl.com
(Update: The letter did get sent, and the USPTO received the letter (blog article).)
This blog article provides a document The Fool’s Errand That Is DOCX, dated December 27, 2022. This blog article invites you to sign a letter urging USPTO people to read the document. Continue reading “The Fool’s Errand That Is DOCX”
(Correction — I am told that both AIPLA and IPO also contacted the USPTO privately in recent weeks about this problem.)
It looks like maybe the USPTO blinked on the non-DOCX surcharge problem, at least a little. What forced the USPTO to blink was a letter from 117 patent practitioners pushing back on a December 20, 2022 Federal Register notice. The notice maintained and doubled down on January 1, 2023 as a date that all US patent filers would face a harsh choice — incur substantial risks of losses of patent rights due to the DOCX program, or pay $400 to be able to file a patent application in a way that eliminated those substantial risks. The only visible pushbacks on this December 20, 2022 FR notice were:
In this blog article I briefly describe the state of play on the DOCX program as it now appears.
Continue reading “USPTO blinked on the non-DOCX surcharge”
Monday, January 2 will be a federal holiday in the District of Columbia. This means the USPTO will be closed on Monday, January 2. This means that any response or action that would have been due at the USPTO on Saturday, December 31, or Sunday, January 1, or Monday, January 2 will be timely if carried out on Tuesday, January 3.
The US Postal Service will likewise be closed on Monday, January 2.
Monday, December 26 will be a federal holiday in the District of Columbia. This means the USPTO will be closed on Monday, December 26. This means that any response or action that would have been due at the USPTO on Saturday, December 24, or Sunday, December 25, or Monday, December 26 will be timely if carried out on Tuesday, December 27.
The US Postal Service will likewise be closed on Monday, December 26.
If you are like most folks these days, you are getting ready to install an EV charger at your home. You agonize about whether to get this brand of EV charger or that brand of EV charger. And then just as you think you figured everything out about which EV charger to purchase, you smack into a wall. The charger is available with two kinds of plug, a so-called “6-50” plug or a so-called “14-50” plug. Which variant of the EV charger should you choose? Which plug is the right one to pick?
It turns out that this is a trick question. But if you click here, you can read a blog article by someone whose writing style you might recognize, who answers this question for you.
I recently received this handheld distance measurement device. Like a laser pointer, it shoots out a narrow beam of red light, making a small red dot on a surface that might be 100 feet away. It then uses a built-in telescope to view the red dot of light, and works out the distance to that surface. The device arrived today, and I compared its measurement with that of a long fiberglass measuring tape. The two approaches yielded answers that differed by only a tenth of a percent. How does it work exactly?
Star Trek fans might be able to guess where I am going with this. There were episodes of Star Trek where an enemy had somehow found a way to bypass the Enterprise’s shields, at which point the captain on the bridge of the Enterprise would shout out “modulate the shield harmonics!” In the world of Star Trek, this modulation apparently restored the protection of the shields. And indeed this kind of laser distance measurement uses a modulation of a signal to accomplish its remarkable result. Continue reading “Modulate the shield harmonics!”
Hello, PCT enthusiasts. Today WIPO has placed into service its new version of the PCT Applicant’s Guide. (WIPO has dubbed today’s new version as “the eGuide“.) You can see it here. Importantly, the legacy version of the Applicant’s Guide is still available. You can see it here. Continue reading “See the new version of the PCT Applicant’s Guide”
We recently started using a new VPN solution at OPLF. It is faster than our previous VPN solution and has lower latency. It has no recurring cost and the one-time cost to get it working was under $100. In this article I will describe this new VPN solution in detail. I will also explain how you could set this up yourself in your own office. Continue reading “Making your office VPN situation faster and easier to use”
The Monaco Industrial Property Office of the Business Development Agency, having made plans to join the DAS system, will become trendy, modern, and up-to-date on February 1, 2023. Continue reading “Monaco Industrial Property Office will soon be trendy, modern and up-to-date”
Yes, folks, today is the day. Starting today, you only get three months to respond to a USPTO trademark Office Action instead of the usual six months. I told you all about this back on October 12, 2022 (blog article). This article hopefully answers some of your questions about this change. Continue reading “Today is the day — only 3 months to respond to a trademark Office Action”