The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office publishes same filing-to-registration timelines for applications filed based on different bases.
Today’s timeline shows a sample timeline for a Section 1(a) use-based application:
For the full-sized version of the flowchart, please click here. We hope this information is useful.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.
The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office publishes same filing-to-registration timelines for applications filed based on different bases.
Today’s timeline shows a sample timeline for a Section 1(b) intent-to-use application:
For the full-sized version of the flowchart, please click here. We hope this information is useful.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.
To our clients and colleagues:
As you know, we often use the US Postal Service (“USPS”) for mailing confirmation copies of documents – particularly international mailings.
As of 22 January 2012, the USPS increased its fees for many of its services including international Express Mail service. Specifically, the USPS increased its postage fees for international flat rate Express Mail envelopes from $27.55 per envelope to $38.00 per envelope. This amounts to an increase of nearly 38% (37.9%).
Accordingly, all international clients will notice an increase in postage fees on future invoices. While we regret we have to do this, we have no control over postage fees charged by the USPS.
We thank you for your understanding.
Effective September 26, 2011, U.S. Patent & Trademark Office fees will increase. The increase comes as a result of Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, which President Obama signed into law on September 16, 2011.
At this time, increased fees will apply to patent matters only. As of September 26, 2011, trademark processing fees will remain the same. Many patent fees are expected to increase by 15%.
According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, the new law will afford more certainty for patent applicants and owners, and provide the USPTO the resources needed to operate efficiently and issue high-quality patents. Implementation of the new law will occur over a period of months, and our USPTO team will seek input and provide updates all along the way.
The current fee schedule may be found here.
The new fee schedule, going into effect on September 26, 2011, may be found here.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.
Otherwise, check back here for future updates.
Yesterday’s New York Times contained an article by Alan Feuer entitled “A Study in Why Major Law Firms Are Shrinking“. In sum, like many other industries, it has to do with the economy. It has to do with clients demanding lower rates. It has to do with clients demanding that more work be done at flat rates. It has to do with clients refusing to pay exorbitant fees to support the lavish lifestyles of law firm partners who, at the example chosen by the author, White & Case, reported a drop in partner profits in 2008: “the average profit per partner last year [2008] was $1.6 million, down from $1.7 million the previous year, according to AmLawDaily, the Web site of The American Lawyer.”
Indeed, in the last two years White & Case has laid off 270 lawyers. Of those, 200 were recently notified that their jobs at White & Case had been eliminated. And the firm does not discriminate: junior associates as well as established partners have been let go. “Sometimes it was people who had recently joined the firm, but sometimes it was much-more-senior people at what seemed to be a natural break in their careers,” Mr. Verrier said of those who were let go.
Mr. Feuer laments that, “[t]he gentleman’s profession of the law is becoming a vestige of the past, removed enough from reality to be remembered, like phone booths or fedoras.”
Nadya Suleman, aka Octomom, has filed a trademark application for the mark OCTOMOM, ensuring her ability to make money from her moniker.
Her applications cover entertainment in the nature of on-going television programs in the field of reality shows in Class 41, disposable diapers in Class 16 and dresses; pants; shirts; textile diapers in Class 25.
You can access information about her application here and here.
Beware: She may have competition here.
My former employer, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., has announced it is selling its ConvaTec unit for $4.1 billion to two private equity firms: Nordic Capital and Avista Capital Partners. ConvaTec had been Bristol-Myers’ ostomy and surgical equipment.
Apparently, cash will be used to help finance Bristol-Myers’s strategy to shift its focus to biopharmaceuticals.
A consortium led by US private equity group Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (“KKR”) was left unchallenged on Tuesday in its quest to take over Alliance Boots, Europe’s biggest pharmacy chain, after a rival British bidder withdrew its bid. On Tuesday KKR raised its cash offer by 4.5 percent to £11-billion ($22-billion), which the board of Alliance Boots then recommended to shareholders.
Alliance Boots, which was created last year by the British merger of pharmacy chain Alliance UniChem and health and beauty retailer Boots. The deal would make Alliance Boots the first company to fall into private hands while being listed on London’s prestigious FTSE 100 share index.
America may not be popular around the world; however, a recent study shows that American brands are still popular. For example, Saudi Arabians apparently like their Kraft brand cheese, and the Chinese their Budweiser (that’s Anheuser-Busch, not Budweiser Budvar) beer. Egyptians like to wash their hair with Pert Plus shampoo. Jack Daniels is also the perfect whiskey to bring to a party in Romania.
Those are some of the more surprising findings in a new study from Synovate, Chicago, in which more than 13,000 consumers in 20 countries were quizzed online, via phone or in person in mid-2006 about their brand preferences across a host of categories.
Interesting…
Bastille Day
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010À nos clients et collègues français, nous vous souhaitons un joyeux Quatorze Juillet !
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