Intellectual Property Law

Is an API of USPTO trademark data coming soon?

Posted on April 01, 2011
Via an email from the USPTO [subscribe link]: On or about April 1, 2011, Trademarks is planning to move Trademark Document Retrieval (TDR) 2.0 from a beta system to a full production system. As part of the Trademark Next Generation (TM NG) program, TDR 2...

Patent Drafting 101

Posted on April 01, 2011
Ronald Slusky, author of Invention Analysis and Claiming: A Patent Lawyer’s Guide, has some upcoming seminars (based upon his book). See http://www.sluskyseminars.com/ for the details. I have heard many great things about his book (it’s on my “to read” list)...

Double spacing between sentences

Posted on January 14, 2011
Hi. My name is Steve, and I’m a double spacer. I admit it. I learned to type on an old IBM Selectric® typewriter (the vibrations of which I was sure would make me sterile) when I was in high school. One of the many rules hammered into each of our heads by business arts (I’m [...

USPTO and embedded fonts in Acrobat PDF

Posted on October 28, 2010
The Acrobat for Lawyers blog has a great post talking about “Federal Courts moving to requiring PDF/A for filings.” One of the benefits of PDF/A is that it includes EMBEDDED FONTS.  The article includes a section on “Creating an ?Embed All? Setting”"…good reading for patent practitioners constantly struggling with EFS-Web validation issues...

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Announcing: Buchanan Nipper LLC

Posted on September 16, 2010
Sorry for the light posting…I’ve been a little busy.  I can now announce here that I will be forming a new law firm on October 1, 2010:  Buchanan Nipper LLC, working for the same clients (if they’ll have me), doing the same type of work...

New IP Blog on IP Management and Strategy

Posted on August 17, 2010
It is nice to see that Bill Meade, frequent contributor to Guy Kawasaki’s blog, finally has his own blog:  “Basicip’s Blog on Intellectual Property Management Consulting.”  Check out his recent post on “What is an intellectual property strategy?“ Related posts:IP Docketing Software, Part II In follow up to my earlier post wherein I was...

Ten Ways to Improve the USPTO Website ? Number 2

Posted on July 27, 2010
The second way to improve the USPTO.gov website would be to double check all of the information provided as facts. For example, the Full-Text Database FAQ (among other pages) notes that (emphasis added): Patents from January 1976 to the present offer the full searchable text, including all bibliographic data, such as the inventor’s name, the [...

Bilski Podcasts

Posted on July 23, 2010
A couple post-Bilski podcasts to link to: Patents in the Supreme Court: Bilski v. Kappos – A “panel podcast/debate” between Professor John Duffy (George Washington Law School) and David Olson (Boston College Law School), moderated by Professor Adam Mossoff (George Mason School of Law)...

Patent Plugin for FireFox

Posted on July 23, 2010
Kenneth Yip at Apsator e-mailed me to point out that they have a new version of their FireFox plugin available.  See:  https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3142/.  He notes: …the new version introduces two breakthrough features.  The first feature is to preview patent drawings in PNG format...

Great post on IDS ? McKesson

Posted on July 20, 2010
Pharma Patents blog on Three Easy Solutions to the McKesson Problem. Related posts:New patent bill…Post-Grant Opposition Procedures Matt Buchanan of PromoteTheProgress.com is at a CLE today and... Fed Cir Blog on Post-Pfaff Fed Cir Decisions I stumbled ona great post from the Fed Cir Blog...

Dealing with E-mail Overload

Posted on July 12, 2010
I recently wrote a three part series of articles for the Idaho State Bar’s magazine regarding how to deal with e-mail overload: Email Overload Part III – Hacking Your Own E-Mail, The Advocate (Official Publication of the Idaho State Bar), vol...

Summary of 35 USC 101 caselaw, software and business method patents

Posted on July 09, 2010
This really is the best summary of 35 U.S.C. §101 caselaw as it relates to software and/or business method patents: @erikjheels on:  A Mere Mortal’s Guide To Patents Post-Bilski (Or Why §101 Is A Red Herring) Bookmark it. Related posts:Software patents in Europe Arnoud Engelfriet e-mailed me to some links on his site...

This Week in Law ? Bilski

Posted on July 07, 2010
I’ll be on This Week in Law (video podcast) this Friday, along with J. Matt Buchanan (Promote the Progress blog) discussing Bilski and whatever other interesting topics come up. If you have any topics to suggest: Tag them via Delicious – http://delicious...

In re Bilski Roundup

Posted on June 30, 2010
I doubt any readers of this blog don’t know that the Supreme Court decided In re Bilski on Monday. Rather than summarize the case like every other patent blog…I’ll link to what everyone else is saying: USPTO Memo to Examiners on the case – http://www...

Ten Ways to Improve the USPTO Website ? Number 1

Posted on June 24, 2010
Back in the “ReThink(IP)” days, we had a frequent meme called “Things we hate about uspto.gov.” Sadly, most of those “things” are still issues. I thought it might be fun to revisit that list (and expand on it) via a series of posts here that I will tag with “uspto” and “feedback”...

Vuvuzela, the trademark

Posted on June 17, 2010
I wondered if there were a rash of US trademark applications filed on variations on VUVUZELA (as US applicants race to do every time there is a new hot word). Surprisingly, there are ZERO pending trademarks that include VUVUZELA. The only mark in TESS is an abandoned US Trademark application…I had no idea [...

10 resources every IP professional should take advantage of

Posted on June 15, 2010
NAPP’s Patent Practice YahooGroup – “A Patent Practice Forum exclusively for Members of the National Association of Patent Practitioners.  Learn more about NAPP and join today at http://www.napp.org.” (Note:  in my opinion, the value that a new practitioner would get from the NAPP disussion group is worth the [...

Motivation 101

Posted on June 07, 2010
Set aside 10 minutes and watch this video (animation) based upon a short lecture by Daniel Pink on “What Motivates Us.”  Great insight! I added his book “Drive” to my list of books I recommend to inventors. Related posts:Patently Silly is patently hilarious One of the “old school” patent blogs is Daniel Wright’s...

Capturing Intellectual Property ? Kickstand Boise Idaho

Posted on June 07, 2010
This month’s Kickstand meeting will cover “Capturing Intellectual Property,” via a presentation lead by Bill Meade and Bob Sesek of BasicIP, an intellectual property consulting firm. For those of you in Boise, here are the quick details: What:  Kickstand When: Thursday, June 10, 2010 @ 5:30-7pm Where:  The WaterCooler, 1401 West Idaho Street, Boise, ID 83702-5246 Full details:  http://kickstand...

USPTO + Google = Bulk patent/trademark data

Posted on June 02, 2010
Via this press release, the USPTO and Google have teamed up to distribute bulk USPTO data via a Google page:  http://www.google.com/googlebooks/uspto.html. The good news:  easier access to USPTO data. The bad news:  it is BULK data.  Don’t expect it to be sexy, or easy to access/use...

USPTO is now on Facebook

Posted on May 20, 2010
Per the press release: USPTO Launches Page on Facebook Agency?s profile will deliver the latest news, photos and videos from the USPTO Washington ? The Department of Commerce?s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) today launched its official page on Facebook...

One easy improvement to the online MPEP

Posted on May 13, 2010
The problem:  If you perform a search engine search for a patent statute/rule, the USPTO’s copy of the statute/rule doesn’t appear in the search results. Example:  Google search for 37 CFR 1.28.  In the results, the “bitlaw” copy of the rule is #1, and a number of pages on the USPTO’s website are #2 (none of [...

How do you change the attorney docket number on a trademark application?

Posted on May 12, 2010
If you’ve ever wondered how to change the attorney docket number on a trademark application, per the USPTO’s Trademark Assistance Center (2010.05.12): If you need to change your correspondence information, you can file your request online through the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) at http://www...

New IP blog added to blogroll

Posted on April 26, 2010
The Presumption of Validity (Joseph Iskra) – http://www.presumptionofvalidity.com The other IP blogs:  http://inventblog.com/ip-blogroll Related posts:IP Blogroll Updated I’ve updated my IP Blogroll to include more of the... Related posts:IP Blogroll Updated I’ve updated my IP Blogroll to include more of the...

Boise Lawyer Spotlighted by 37 Signals

Posted on April 23, 2010
Boise Lawyer Chuck Petersen is spotlighted on 37 Signals Product blog today:  Criminal Defense Lawyer Keeps Clients Informed with Basecamp, pointing to Chuck’s post: There’s a Message for Lawyers in REWORK. Related posts:The Patent Lawyer(TM) Magazine From: Association of Patent Law Firms Launches The Patent Lawyer(TM)...

The USPTO?s New LegalZoom Killer?

Posted on April 13, 2010
“LegalZoom Killer” jokingly referring to the non-stop “killer” memes that seem to be circulating these days…from the iPad being the “Kindle killer” to some new, but secret, Google-HTC tablet being the “iPad Killer...

Boise Meets TechStars

Posted on April 08, 2010
For my local readers, get out your calendars and add “TechStars” to your calendar on April 21st, 2010, at 6:00 pm, when Highway 12 Ventures has a special event at the Watercooler where David Cohen (founder of TechStars) and Andy Sack (Executive Director of TechStars Seattle) will be talking about TechStars...

Proposed Two Year Provisional Patent Application Term

Posted on April 02, 2010
The USPTO’s News and Notices page contains a link to an Official Gazette Notice dated today entitled:  Request for Comments on Proposed Change To Missing Parts Practice.  While the name may be quite innocuous, read the summary: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), in response to a number of requests to reduce the costs [...

Articles on Email Overload and Social Media 101

Posted on April 01, 2010
Two of my recent articles from the Idaho State Bar’s monthly magazine are online now: Dealing with Email Overload (part I of III) Social Media 101

IP Blogroll Updated

Posted on March 21, 2010
I’ve updated my IP Blogroll to include more of the IP blogs that I read every week.  It is my personal “Best IP Blogs” list. The blogroll can be found here:  http://inventblog.com/ip-blogroll. If you think I should be reading your IP blog (and you are not listed there)…please, send me an email (the chances are that I [...

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