Cancellation of a registered trademark for non-use soon could be easier According to Chief Administrative Trademark Judge Gerard F. Rogers in his blog post on the Director’ Forum last week, PTO found out through a pilot program that “more than half of registrations being maintained include at least some goods or services for which the registered mark is not actually being used.” “These registered trademarks that […] Continue Reading →
USPTO Releases Patent Fee Schedule for 2018 This past week, the USPTO released its final patent fee schedule for 2018. The USPTO has been actively seeking to reduce the overall patent pendency, number of unexamined applications, and reduce its appeal backlog. Part of these efforts have been the continual recruiting and training of new examiners and new Administrative Law Judges at the […] Continue Reading →
Outside an infringement claim: the use of sovereign immunity and an attempt to limit its’ use The sovereign – that is the government or government owned entities – are immune from lawsuit by the Eleventh Amendment. Thus, the United States government, state government, or a state-owned university are protected from legal action, including a lawsuit for patent infringement. Universities that are state owned thus can proceed with their research without concern […] Continue Reading →
REMINDER: Deadline to Re-Register Your DMCA Agent is December 31, 2017 As previously discussed on this blog (Copyright Office Establishes New Electronic DMCA Agent Registration), the U.S. Copyright Office has recently enacted changes to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) safe harbor registration process. As part of the new system, the Copyright Office is requiring any service provider that designated an agent in the old paper-based […] Continue Reading →