Recent Articles

KIPO Becomes Third USPTO Document Exchange Participant

October 22, 2008 15:33

Last week, the USPTO announced that it has added the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) as the third participating foreign intellectual property office in its direct priority document exchange program. The KIPO, added as of October 14, 2008, joins the European Patent Office (EPO) and the...

EPO Adds New Online Training Courses

October 20, 2008 13:46

The European Patent Office (EPO) recently announced that it has added to its online course offerings to broaden the scope of information publicly available to IP practitioners and those interested in the field. As referenced within the EPO announcement (link below), four new courses have been...

WIPO Adds Courses to its Distance Learning Program

October 14, 2008 14:08

Last week, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) announced that, through its Worldwide Academy, it was adding five new courses to its widely used distance learning program. According to the WIPO press release (link below), the five new courses cover arbitration/mediation procedure,...

USPTO Warns Customers Regarding Unsolicited Third-Party Communications

October 09, 2008 12:35

The USPTO recently issued a warning to its trademark customers regarding “unsolicited communications” they may receive by companies offering trademark monitoring and document filing services. As noted within the USPTO warning (link below), “solicitations from these companies frequently display cus...

USPTO Starts Trademark Consistency Initiative

October 08, 2008 13:42

Last week the USPTO announced a measure to improve trademark quality by providing a mechanism for trademark applicants to alert the trademark office as to potential inconsistencies among the applicant’s trademark portfolio. This new procedure begins with the submission of a Request for Consistency ...

The Federal Circuit Holds that Improper Revival of Patent Applications is Beyond Judicial Review

October 06, 2008 16:12

By Jay Gordon TaylorIn an artful job of issue dodging and a narrowly focused reading of the Patent Act, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) has dodged the key issue in Aristocrat Technologies Australia PTY Ldt. v. International Gaming Technology, i.e., whether the United States...

DDIP Tidbits – 10/01/2008

October 01, 2008 12:40

1. On Monday, President Bush honored the 2007 recipients of the National Medal of Science and the National Medal of Technology & Innovation at the White House in a program broadcast live via the White House website. The award recipients included six individuals and two companies, and involved...

WIPO Appoints New Director General

September 26, 2008 14:05

On September 22, 2008, Francis Gurry was unanimously appointed by the 184 member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) as the organization’s newest Director General. According to the WIPO press release (link below), this appointment promoted Gurry from his then-current p...

USPTO and KIPO sign MOU

September 25, 2008 12:27

Yesterday the USPTO announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) regarding a more comprehensive cooperation on patent examination. This agreement, signed on September 23rd, focuses on the sharing of work between the two patent...

USPTO Hosting IT Security Expo

September 23, 2008 12:12

This Wednesday, September 24, 2008, the USPTO will be hosting its Information Technology (IT) Security Expo at the main USPTO campus in Alexandria, Virginia. According to the USPTO press release (link below), there will be 3 speakers and over 30 IT software and hardware vendors to provide...