Intellectual Property Law

Public PAIR/Recaptcha?s unintended consequences?

Posted on February 07, 2008
I frequently have problems getting the USPTO’s new password verification system to work.  In my experience, it is usually a FireFox issue….if I reboot FireFox, the system will accept my entries again.  I thought the problem was “just me...

What is the Current USPTO Allowance Rate?

Posted on February 05, 2008
According to this post, it is around 44%.  Ouch. [Originally posted on The Invent Blog. Copyright © Nipper, LLC 2004-2007. All Rights Reserved.]

Best Email Tip I Learned Last Year ? @ Waiting

Posted on February 05, 2008
Sorry my posting has been so light lately. Buried at work and I’ve been spending quite a bit of time coaching a local high school Mock Trial team (who qualified for state on Saturday!!!). If you’re looking for a great way to give back (pro bono) to the community (and be forced to [...

One bad apple?all practitioners suffer (The USPTO and Easy Access to Public Data)

Posted on January 31, 2008
One of my favorite quotes is: The … right to criticize either by temperate reasoning, or by immodest and indecent invective, … is the ultimate source of (citizens’) authority. –Judge Learned Hand That being said, I was thrilled to see Matt Buchanan’s new “opinions” page on his blog where he speaks his peace...

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Four Years!

Posted on January 04, 2008
Crikey, I’ve been updating this blog for four years now? [First Post] Oh, how the patent blogging landscape has changed since then. When I started the blog, I would post on any and everything patent related that I could find…lawsuits, new Federal Circuit cases, funny “TGIF” posts…whatever caught my eye that day...

Cross-Hatching in Patent Drawings

Posted on January 03, 2008
One of the best parts of blogging is having your own personal “knowledge management” system…so you can more easily find frequently used links, documents, etc.  That being said… The USPTO Guide for the Preparation of Patent Drawings (Microsoft Word document, ~140 pages long, ~6MB in size) has a few pages showing preferred cross-hatching...

PatentFizz now does Published Applications!

Posted on January 03, 2008
Matt over at PatentFizz has announced that PatentFizz is now starting to cover published patent applications. Very cool!

PAIR, now with an additional step

Posted on January 02, 2008
Today, I noticed this gem when I went to access Public PAIR: If it means that PAIR and TDR are less likely to be offline (which I’ve seen a number of times in the past month)…GREAT. If it means that practitioners will have yet another impediment to easy access to government data…NOT GOOD...

Cool Patent Searching Tool: PatentScrounger.com

Posted on January 02, 2008
Neat way of patent searching…visually, by viewing the first pages of your search results: www.patentscrounger.com [Originally posted on The Invent Blog. Copyright © Nipper, LLC 2004-2007. All Rights Reserved.]

A question for my readers: filling out 1449 (IDS) forms

Posted on December 26, 2007
One of my secretary’s biggest headaches is taking a pile of patents and from them generating an IDS (PTO-1449). While we use an IP forms program, it isn’t much more “automated” than a fillable PDF form. The questions is…is there a better way of doing this? Are there other software options, preferably ones [...

Updated links to USPTO & FTC publications on invention promotion companies

Posted on December 26, 2007
Contact the USPTO Before You Get Burned (PDF) [Original] [Local copy] FTC Consumer Alert: Spotting Sweet-Sounding Promises of Fraudulent Invention Promotion Firms (PDF) [Original] [Local Copy] FTC Facts for Consumers: Invention Promotion Firms (PDF) [Original] [Local Copy] [Originally posted on The Invent Blog...

Entrepreneur Quotes

Posted on December 17, 2007
An excellent list of quotes from entrepreneurs and/or on entrepreneurship: Top 20 Entrepreneurship Quotes. [Originally posted on The Invent Blog. Copyright © Nipper, LLC 2004-2007. All Rights Reserved.]

New IP Blog of Note - Securing Innovation

Posted on December 17, 2007
The folks at ip.com have ventured into the blogging world, starting the “Securing Innovation” blog. The blog touts itself as covering “managing intellectual property, patents, trademarks and trade secrets.” A few recent posts of note: A short guide to defensive publication Writing technical disclosures Getting started with technical disclosures Solving business problems and managing risk with technical dislcosures Impressive! [...

Free CLE, ethics, electronic discovery

Posted on December 03, 2007
“Through December 12, 2007, PLI is giving away a free ethics course online that will count for CLE credit. The course is Ethics and Electronic Discovery 2007, which was recorded in August 2007.”  See:  PLI - Patent Blog–Ethics and Electronic Discovery 2007...

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