A few days ago, President Trump issued an executive order closing federal offices on December 24th and 26th this week. Christmas Day was already a federal holiday. Federal workers now have the rest of the week off. This closure affects…
The United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued updated guidance on inventorship for AI-assisted inventions. Although this formally rescinds and replaces its February 2024 guidance, the substance does not change much. The revised guidance reaffirms long-established legal principles. The…
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is largely protected from the government shutdown but is not immune from other plans that have been brewing for a long time. In my circle, there has been a lot of talk about…
At the start of this year, the Trademark Office began requiring that all new applications be filed with Trademark Center. Trademark Center replaced mostly trustworthy TEAS filing system that has been in place for many years. TEAS is still the…
On August 28, the White House issued an executive order which stripped collective-bargaining rights at several agencies, including the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, instantly reshaping labor relations for thousands of patent examiners. The executive order premises the change on…
I’ve previously written about trademark maintenance scams, both here and here. As a trademark owner, you have a responsibility to maintain or renew your trademark periodically after your mark registers at the Trademark Office. If you use or used a…
I was attempting to file a provisional application today in the USPTO’s no-longer-new-but-still-quite-buggy Patent Center filing system. I am glad I not up against a deadline today. I logged in, and a “Search Limit Reached” error message immediately popped up,…
In April, we had a major success for a client. I am thrilled to announce it here now. Over the years, I’ve drafted, prosecuted, and granted utility patents, design patents, and trademarks for The Comfy. Recently, a jury awarded them…
If you own a registered trademark for a few years, you will receive notices in the mail warning you of a “Pending Trademark Cancellation” or an “Imminent Trademark Expiration.” Be careful when reading these because they may not be legitimate. …
The Patent Office is establishing a separate design patent bar for people to practice design patent prosecution in front of the USPTO. I am generally against this, because I believe it will lead to bad advice being given to inventors…