Just now I wrote to David Gooder, the Commissioner for Trademarks, asking him to please pass along thanks to some of his people. Here is part of what I wrote to him today, edited slightly for blog style. The main point is that today, the Trademark Office was nice to its customers and to the listserv community. Continue reading “The Trademark Office being nice to its customers”
Mexican Institute of Industrial Property joins DAS
Yet another intellectual property office has joined DAS. The Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) will become a Depositing Office and an Accessing Office in DAS on Tuesday, November 3, 2020.
Only just now did I notice that the logo for IMPI is a Möbius strip!
IMPI will be a Depositing Office for:
- patent applications
- utility model applications
- industrial design applications
In addition, RO/MX will be a Depositing Office for purposes of PCT applications filed in RO/MX.
This offers a reminder that Mexico is one of the seventy-six Offices that provides utility model protection.
IMPI will be an Accessing Office for:
- international design applications (Hague applications) filed at the IB
- industrial design applications
- patent applications
- utility model applications
Which intellectual property firm in Mexico is the most trendy, modern, and up-to-date? Send me a DAS access code for a Mexican patent application, a DAS access code for a Mexican utility model application, a DAS access code for a Mexican industrial design application, and a DAS access code for a PCT application filed in RO/MX. I can then post Certificates of Availability (with a few digits of the application numbers blurred) for those four applications, and I will then be able to recognize your firm as the most trendy, modern and up-to-date intellectual property firm in Mexico.
USPTO seems to have walked back the US-designation-Hague-DAS-certified-copy problem
It is recalled (see blog post “Captain May I?” in Hague Agreement applications, August 20, 2020 and open letter to the Commissioner for Patents, September 2, 2020) that in about June of 2020 the USPTO came up with the notion that there was a trap for the unwary in the use of DAS as a way to perfect a priority claim in a US designation from a Hague Agreement design application. The USPTO decided that I had supposedly stepped into this trap twice, representing a design applicant in two 35-series design patent applications.
Now the USPTO seems to have walked it back. Although the USPTO did not communicate the walk-back as clearly as one might wish, the USPTO seems to have decided that this trap for the unwary never actually existed. It means I never stepped into the trap, given that it never actually existed. Continue reading “USPTO seems to have walked back the US-designation-Hague-DAS-certified-copy problem”
The price of trademark privacy continues to be $100
This blog post describes some most recent developments in the business of the Trademark Office granting $100 petitions for trademark applicants who do not want to tell Trademark Office employees exactly where they sleep at night. This blog post talks about the privacy situation where the named applicant is a legal person (such as an LLC) rather than a natural person (a human being). Continue reading “The price of trademark privacy continues to be $100”
Does copyright protect the notion that a character develops emotions?
Can the heirs to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle shut down a soon-to-be-released Netflix movie Enola Holmes by asserting copyright? The answer, it seems, turns on whether “having emotions” is a thing that copyright can protect. No, I am not making this up. Continue reading “Does copyright protect the notion that a character develops emotions?”
An open letter to the Commissioner for Patents
I request that the Commissioner for Patents publish an Official Gazette notice along the lines of the proposed notice appearing below. Continue reading “An open letter to the Commissioner for Patents”
Shaking loose from the Public Switched Telephone Network (getting to know SIP URIs)
It is ingrained in our behavior that if we are going to take a step toward calling someone on the telephone, we need to ask them “what is your telephone number?” It is is ingrained in our behavior that if we are going to make it possible for someone to call us on the telephone, we need to be able to tell someone “our telephone number”. This world of “having a telephone number” and “calling a telephone number” is the most prominent aspect of the Public Switched Telephone Network (Wikipedia article). One way to think of the PSTN is that it is a collective effort by governments and post offices and landline telephone companies to collect money from people who “dial telephone numbers” and who receive telephone calls from other people who “dial telephone numbers”.
The rise of the Internet has prompted many efforts to find ways that people can talk to each other without paying money to the PSTN. One of those ways is the SIP URI (Wikipedia article). Continue reading “Shaking loose from the Public Switched Telephone Network (getting to know SIP URIs)”
Migrating from a physical local PBX to a cloud PBX
Recently Oppedahl Patent Law Firm LLC migrated from a physical local PBX to a cloud PBX. What prompted us to do this? What are the pros and cons of such a migration? How might one go about selecting a cloud PBX service provider? Continue reading “Migrating from a physical local PBX to a cloud PBX”
Today is the day — Colombia joins the WIPO DAS system
Yes, today is the day that Colombia joins DAS as both an Accessing Office and a Depositing Office. You can read about this here.
Who is the most trendy, modern and up-to-date Colombian intellectual property firm? Be the first to provide to me an application number, filing date, and DAS access code for a design application, a patent application, a utility model application, and an RO/CO application, and I will recognize your status as the most trendy, modern and up-to-date in Colombia. (I will blur part of the application number in the Certificates of Availability that I obtain and post.)
Using a VOIP SMS telephone number as your Signal identifier
I think the best identifier to use with a messaging app is a VOIP SMS telephone number.
The identifier that Signal uses is a cellular telephone number. I am very glad to tell you, however, that you don’t really have to use a traditional cellular telephone number. For example for my Signal service I don’t actually use a cellular number, I use instead a VOIP number that happens to have SMS service enabled. That VOIP number is not linked to any SIM card. My VOIP provider (VOIP.MS) uses two-factor authentication and, because it is not a cellular provider, is not going to fall prey to a SIM swap attempt. (See Being smart about SMS two-factor authentication.) This protective step costs me only 85¢ per month. I recommend it for all of your SMS two-factor authentication and I recommend it for your Signal service.