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Webinar recording now available: Picking a Receiving Office

So you missed the CLE-accredited webinar about the Patent Cooperation Treaty that took place on Wednesday, November 17, 2021 entitled Picking a Receiving Office.  Well, all is not lost.  You can download the program materials here and you can view the video recording here.  It is unlikely you will ever find anyplace that offers a comparable 90 minutes of discussion of this fascinating topic.  As a reminder this recording is provided free of charge, courtesy of the World Intellectual Property Organization.   You might be able to view it directly in your web browser here:

Here is a description of the program. Continue reading “Webinar recording now available: Picking a Receiving Office”

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Four more upcoming webinars!

Okay folks.  Here are four more upcoming webinars for you.

The first three webinars, which all relate to the Patent Cooperation Treaty, are free of charge, thanks to the generous sponsorship of WIPO.

If you have not already done so, I suggest you share this page with all of your colleagues who handle PCT patent applications, so that they will have a chance to sign up for the PCT-related programs.

Who do you know that is scrambling around to try to pick up those last few ethics CLE credits before the end of the year?  Share this page with that person so that they can consider attending the December 10 legal ethics program on securing electronic communications.

Who do you know that is scrambling around to try to pick up a bunch of general CLE credits before the end of the year?  The price is right, especially for the first three programs.

If you don’t want to miss out on these and other webinars when they get scheduled, just subscribe to this blog.  

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The fight over the “Meta” trademark heats up

As many readers know, in October of 2021 Facebook picked a new name for their company, namely “Meta”.  But it sort of looks like maybe somebody at Facebook did not do a good enough trademark clearance search back when the company was considering whether to use “Meta” or some other proposed mark as their new name.  Anybody who wanted to do so could have clicked around in October of 2021 in the USPTO trademark database and could have seen that two months earlier, an Arizona company called Meta PC had filed a trademark application for “Meta” for computers and several other computer-related goods.  (You can see the trademark application here in TSDR.)
Continue reading “The fight over the “Meta” trademark heats up”

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BBVA USA bank to PNC bank acquisition was a disaster for law firms

click to enlarge

If you are a law firm, and if until recently you did your banking at BBVA USA bank, you already know most of what I am now describing.  The acquisition by PNC bank of BBVA USA bank was a disaster.  We are now in the process of dumping PNC Bank. If you are a law firm and you formerly did your banking at BBVA USA, I’d guess you are likewise now in the process of dumping PNC bank. Continue reading “BBVA USA bank to PNC bank acquisition was a disaster for law firms”

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A beeping file server

Update:  I am pleased to be able to report that after about six hours, the server finished the “repair”.  The new drive is now a full member of the RAID-1 array.  The server has carried out the first of what will be a series of periodic SMART tests on the drive and it passed the SMART test.  All is once again well with the server.

I was minding my own business when I heard a faint beeping.  It turned out to be one of our Synology file servers.  I could see on the blinky lights on the front of the server that the “status” light had turned from green to amber, and the light for “disk 1” had turned from green to amber.  What did I do next?  Continue reading “A beeping file server”

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Beware USPTO’s DOCX system

(Update:  it is time for you, dear reader, to consider signing another letter.  See blog posting.)

I have published several blog articles (see them here) warning practitioners about the problems with the USPTO’s ill-conceived plans for requiring patent applicants to submit their US patent applications in Microsoft Word format.

Every patent practitioner should attend a free-of-charge webinar that will be presented tomorrow by the Schwegman firm on this topic.

A look at how to file using DOCX documents in the USPTO Patent Center and how what you end up filing may not be what you intended to file. Or, just pay $400 more and submit a PDF of the application that the inventor approved.

To learn more or to register, click here.

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Upcoming educational programs

Hello readers.  I am getting back into the routine of presenting educational webinars.  Here is the next one, with more on the way.

  • November 8, 2021.  Legal ethics: Securing email and messaging.  In this webinar, learn what steps can be easily taken to greatly improve security of email communications.  Find out how some VOIP phone lines are vastly more secure than others and are much more secure than ordinary landline telephones or ordinary mobile phones.  Learn which messaging services are much more secure than others.

Other upcoming topics include:

  • Docketing PCT
  • Picking a PCT Searching Authority
  • Picking a PCT Receiving Office
  • Making smart use of PCT Declarations
  • National phase or bypass continuation?

What other topics would readers like to see in upcoming webinars?  Post a comment below.

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Brilliant deconstructions of popular songs

Let’s suppose you spent your formative years listening to music from the 1970’s and 1980’s with Koss Pro-4AA headphones, picking out and memorizing each vocal line, each guitar lick, each drum fill.  Let’s suppose that even now, decades later, you can tap out each drum fill, and you can scat-sing each vocal part, from memory.  And now in 2021 suppose there were somebody who somehow has gained access to lots of original studio multitrack tapes, and who has recorded incredibly perceptive Youtube programs in which he works though dozens of the great songs from that era, highlighting the bridges, the choruses, the verses, and every hook and chord change and suspension that made the song great.  

Yes for those who savor recorded popular music, the person to listen to is a fellow in Atlanta who records brilliant Youtube programs in his basement.  The guy is named Rick Beato.  And if you love well-performed and well-produced popular music, you need to click away from this blog article and click over to his programs. 

For an intellectual property lawyer, one of the interesting background questions is why his programs don’t instantly get taken down as copyright violations.  And I think I know exactly why they don’t get taken down, and it has nothing to do with copyright law.  I think it has to do with human feelings, as I will explain.

Continue reading “Brilliant deconstructions of popular songs”