We have moved our speed test server from our Westminster office to our dedicated server in Arizona. The connection between our speed test server and the Internet is much faster now. Continue reading “Our improved speed test”
Our improved speed test
SAOSIT and CRISPR in the News
This blog post reminds us of the extreme importance of SAOSIT. CRISPR is an extremely important technology and several organizations are competing to see who will make money from CRISPR. A chief part of that competition is a fight to see who will control the most patents relating to CRISPR. Article 4 of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property says that for a patent priority claim to be valid, the second patent application needs to have been filed by the same applicant as the applicant in the first patent application, or by the successor in title. We call this SAOSIT (same applicant or successor in title). On January 16, 2020 the Board of Appeal at the European Patent Office made an important decision that relates to CRISPR and SAOSIT. The decision offers a reminder of ways that a patent applicant needs to be very careful when carrying out the filing of a PCT application or regional patent application or national patent application that makes a priority claim under Article 4 of the Paris Convention. The decision also offers a reminder of the ways that a patent applicant needs to be very careful when filing a US provisional patent application.
Norway is now as trendy, modern and up-to-date as Australia
I had previously identified IP Australia as the Office that was the most trendy, modern and up-to-date so far as DAS participation is concerned. Of the 25 Offices participating in DAS, IP Australia stood alone as the only Office participating in every way that it is possible to participate.
But now a second Office has joined this high status. The Norwegian Industrial Property Office now stands as a second Office that participates in DAS in every way that it is possible to participate. Continue reading “Norway is now as trendy, modern and up-to-date as Australia”
Eventually every patent and trademark firm will have a TransferWise account
(Update: TransferWise has changed its name to Wise Business.)
I have a prediction to make. My prediction is that within a year or two, every patent and trademark firm around the world that has a substantial international practice will have a TransferWise account. What prompts me to predict this? Continue reading “Eventually every patent and trademark firm will have a TransferWise account”
Today is the day for the IB becoming a Depositing Office for designs
Yes, today is the day that the IB has become a Depositing Office for Designs.
You can read all about it here.
Noticing slopes of tracks between subway stations
About 178 cities around the world, in 56 countries, have subway systems. Dozens of airports also have underground train systems connecting concourses and terminals. Go to any of these cities, any of these airports, and ride the subway, and if you pay close attention you will notice that if two stations are at about the same elevation, there will almost always be a contour like what you see in the figure. The train departs from station A and goes down a short decline. Then the track might be completely level for some distance along the path from one station to the next. Then shortly before arriving at station B, the track goes up a short incline and comes to rest in station B.
Why is there always a decline at A and an incline at B? Why does the track dip down and come back up? Continue reading “Noticing slopes of tracks between subway stations”
Reassuring the client
What follows is a rather long and rambling story ending with an explanation as to why this plaque, which looks big in the photograph but is actually not very big, hangs on the wall of my office. Continue reading “Reassuring the client”
A defect in USPTO’s “Display References” tab
When the time comes to pay an Issue Fee, one item on your checklist is to look in the Display References tab in PAIR to see if there are any not-yet-considered IDSs, right?
The USPTO itself has a similar workflow task when an Issue Fee gets paid — some clerk at the USPTO looks to see if there are any not-yet-considered IDSs and bounces the case back to the Examiner if there are any found in this workflow. Does that clerk rely upon the Display References tab in PAIR to look for not-yet-considered IDSs? Maybe the answer is “yes”.
When a patent Examiner at the USPTO picks up a case to examine it, the Examiner is supposed to consider the IDSs that have been filed. Does the Examiner rely upon the Display References tab in PAIR to look for not-yet-considered IDSs? Maybe the answer is “yes”.
I was astonished recently to learn that there is a category of IDS that the USPTO fails to include in the Display References tab. This defect in PAIR (and there is a corresponding defect in the Display References tab in Patentcenter) requires urgent repair by the USPTO. Between now and whenever (or if) the USPTO gets around to repairing this defect, the situation represents a trap for the unwary practitioner.
Do you, loyal reader, already know what category of IDS I am talking about here?
Continue reading “A defect in USPTO’s “Display References” tab”
More on Japan as a Depositing Office in DAS for designs
It will be recalled (blog article, January 1) that I reported that on January 1, 2020 the Japanese Patent Office became a Depositing Office in DAS for designs.
It’s all fine and good to hear this report, but is there a way that a practitioner could independently confirm that that it really did happen? Is there a way that a practitioner could independently confirm that the JPO did indeed become a Depositing Office in DAS for designs?
The answer is that yes the practitioner can independently confirm this, as I will explain. Continue reading “More on Japan as a Depositing Office in DAS for designs”
Rebooting a server that is a thousand miles away
A year or so ago we migrated quite a few of our firm’s server functions, including this blog, and our firm’s main web site and our firm’s shopping cart, to a shared server in this large building (company web site) in Phoenix, Arizona (aerial photo at right). I’ve never been in that building and my best guess is I won’t ever be in that building. The shared server was on an equipment rack in a cage controlled by our hosting service provider. The building provides multiple connections to the Internet and diesel-powered backup power supplies. In the photograph you can see the diesel fuel storage tanks.
Shared servers are really good to know about. A shared server can provide a very inexpensive way to host many functions in a secure and reliable environment.
On a shared server, you are sharing processor and hard-drive and network-connection bandwidth resources with others on the same server. This means that if you were to use too much of the resources, your hosting service provider would suggest you move to a dedicated server. This also means that if some other user or users on the same server were to use a lot of resources at a particular time, your functions would get slowed down. If for example you were hosting a web site on the server, the web site might run slower for visitors to the web site, because of the activities of other users on the shared server. Another thing to keep in mind is that not all hosting service providers are created equal. Some providers will load too many users on a shared server, and the result will be that it runs slowly for everyone.
Back when we used a shared server at Godaddy, it often ran slowly. I imagine this is because Godaddy put lots of users onto each server. It is part of why we migrated to our present hosting service provider. During the time that we used a shared server with our present hosting service provider, it happened only very rarely that the shared server would run slowly for us.
A couple of months ago we migrated most of the functions that were on that shared server to a dedicated server. The dedicated server costs more per month, but of course there are benefits to its being a dedicated server. The server is very fast. It never slows down because of other users, because there are no other users. And you have “root access” meaning that you can do really neat things. One of the neat things that I was able to do is to set up Let’s Encrypt (blog article) in the AutoSSL of the cPanel (Wikipedia article) in this machine. The consequence of this is that we won’t ever again have to pay money for an SSL certificate for any web site on this server.
I haven’t ever actually seen our dedicated server, and I probably never will, but from its specs I can guess that it might look like the one pictured at right. It takes up one “rack unit” on an equipment rack in the same cage where the shared server was located.
The natural question that one might ask is, if we ever were to find the need to reboot our dedicated server, how would we do it? Would I need to get on an airplane, fly to Phoenix, present myself at this building, get myself admitted to the cage, figure out which server is mine, and push the “reset” button? Or would I need to contact our hosting service provider and beg and plead for them to send someone to the cage to do this?
Surely not.
So should the need arise, how would we reboot it? Continue reading “Rebooting a server that is a thousand miles away”