The year was 1964. I was a student in Mrs. Seiler’s elementary-school class in a school in rural Iowa. Mrs. Seiler introduced a new topic that we students would be learning about for the next few weeks — the metric system! Continue reading “Yes the US was going to join the metric system”
Innumeracy in the popular press
What’s wrong with the third sentence quoted below?
Duke Energy Renewables and Colorado Springs Utilities are developing a new solar energy generating facility in Colorado Springs.
With more than 220,000 solar panels on about 700 acres, the new Palmer Solar project will generate 60 megawatts of electricity for Colorado Springs Utilities’ customers. It generates enough electricity to power approximately 22,000 homes per year.
December 8 – an ideal PCT day!
Wednesday, December 8 will be an ideal day for enthusiasts for the Patent Cooperation Treaty. Two action-packed events, one after another, both free of charge.
10:30 AM Eastern Time to 1PM Eastern Time. WIPO’s annual Advanced PCT Seminar. Topics include:
- Recent and future developments in the PCT System
- ePCT: latest and future developments
The prepared materials will conclude at noon Eastern Time, at which time a one-hour Q&A session will provide an opportunity for participants to ask PCT-related questions of WIPO’s panel of PCT experts.
Your presenters are Matthias Reischle-Park, Hanna Kang, Cécile Chatel, and Pascal Piriou.
For more information, or to register, click here.
2PM Eastern Time to 3:40 PM Eastern Time. Picking an International Searching Authority. A PCT filer from the US has eight International Searching Authorities to choose from:
- Australian Patent Office (ISA/AU)
- European Patent Office (ISA/EP)
- Israel patent office (ISA/IL)
- Japanese Patent Office (ISA/JP)
- Korean Intellectual Property Office (ISA/KR)
- Russian patent office (ISA/RU)
- Singapore patent office (ISA/SG)
- United States Patent and Trademark Office (ISA/US)
Is there some particular ISA among these eight ISAs that is always or nearly always the best choice for nearly all PCT filers? (The answer is no!)
What are the advantages and disadvantages of these various International Searching Authorities? What are aspects of a particular patent application that might make a big difference to an applicant in the applicant’s process of selecting an ISA?
As a bonus topic we will talk about ways that power users can use ePCT to communicate with ISAs, and we will talk about ways to transfer funds to ISAs. We will also discuss the likely futility of trying to get the ISA to agree to let you hand in formal drawings after you have made the mistake of filing your PCT application with informal drawings.
Your presenter is Carl Oppedahl.
The event is free of charge, because of generous support from WIPO. For more information, or to register, click here.
Webinar recording now available: National phase or Bypass?
So you missed the CLE-accredited webinar about the Patent Cooperation Treaty that took place on Friday, November 19, 2021 entitled National Phase or Bypass Continuation? 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 88 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. Continue reading “Webinar recording now available: National phase or Bypass?”
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”
A new PCT book: PCT Forms and PCT Docketing
Here is a book that I think you should add to your bookshelf: Oppedahl on PCT Forms and PCT Docketing. Continue reading “A new PCT book: PCT Forms and PCT Docketing”
Eurasian Patent Office is set to become an International Searching Authority
It was recently decided that the Eurasian Patent Office (official web site) will become a PCT International Searching Authority and International Preliminary Examining Authority.
Continue reading “Eurasian Patent Office is set to become an International Searching Authority”
Four more upcoming webinars!
Okay folks. Here are four more upcoming webinars for you.
- Picking a PCT Receiving Office (Wednesday, November 17, 2021)
- National phase or bypass continuation? (Friday, November 19, 2021)
- Picking a PCT International Searching Authority (Wednesday, December 8, 2021)
- Legal ethics: Securing electronic communications (Friday, December 10, 2021)
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.
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”
BBVA USA bank to PNC bank acquisition was a disaster for law firms
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”