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USPTO Director Katherine K. Vidal published a notice today, May 31st, 2023 outlining certain changes to the initial Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program that went into effect June last year, which is expected to expire next week. In line with the agency’s policy, the expansion and extension of the 2022 program reflects the USPTO’s efforts to encourage and incentivize innovation in the climate space, by… Read More »
On February 17, 2023, the German government ratified the Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA), marking the single most important reform in the history of the European patent system since its founding treaty was signed, the European Patent Convention, in 1973.
Starting June 1, 2023, the new system will (i) enable uniform patent protection across all participating EU member states via a single application and corresponding… Read More »
The Unleashing American Innovators Act of 2022, signed into law on 12/29/2022, decreased small entity fees by 10%, and micro entity fees by 5%, to spur innovation among smaller and independent inventors. For example, government fees for a non-provisional patent application (small entity) have decreased USD $150 reflecting a 60% discount (micro entities are now set to an 80% discount). The current fee schedule can… Read More »
Official trademark registration certificates will be issued to trademark applicants starting on May 24, 2022 by the USPTO via email.
The change is occurring due to customer feedback desiring electronic registration certificates and will decrease wait times for trademark applicants to receive registration certificates. With this change, printed registration certificates will no longer be mailed to trademark applicants and instead will be issued and… Read More »
On December 27, 2020, the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 (“TMA”) became law after being passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by the President as part of the end of year Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021.
The TMA includes significant amendments to the Lanham Act (the federal trademark law) which are designed to modernize USPTO trademark examination procedures in addition to other areas of… Read More »
As the USPTO implements the Trademark Modernization Act (TMA), it has issued new guidance on how to improve the accuracy of the Register so that it reflects marks in use and does not contain registrations that should not be maintained or should not have been granted in the first place, for example, due to fake specimens, other fraud, or error.
As part of this effort,… Read More »
On December 27, 2020, the CASE Act was signed into law which provides a small claims court system within the U.S. Copyright Office for copyright owners to seek damages of under $30,000 for copyright violations. Federal courts have had exclusive jurisdiction over copyright cases and the CASE Act is designed to create a voluntary and affordable alternative to federal court for small copyright claims for… Read More »
On October 29, 2020, the U.S. Copyright Office began offering a new group registration for short online literary works. Works that are included are blogs, short online articles, and social media posts for example and each work must contain at least 50 but no more than 17,500 words. The works must be created by the same individual or jointly by the same individuals and the… Read More »
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on May 27, 2020, further extended the time to file certain patent-related documents and to pay certain required fees under its temporary authority provided by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).
The USPTO recognizes that the COVID-19 pandemic imposes disruption and hardships to small businesses and individual inventors. This extension allows increased flexibility… Read More »
In light of the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) continues to remain open and has extended filing deadlines for parties affected by COVID-19 including deadlines for patent applications, patent reexamination proceedings, Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) proceedings, trademark applications, trademark registrations, and Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) proceedings. If the initial due date is between March 27,… Read More »
