USPTO Shorts

PTO Notes Spike in Denials of JPO/EPO Filings:

Over the last few months, the USPTO has had to deny a significant percentage of the requests coming from the Japan Patent Office and the European Patent Office due to the lack of authorization from the applicant to release a copy of the unpublished US application (e.g., Form SB-39). These Offices have strict deadlines for submission of priority documents, and failure to supply the documents on a timely basis can have unfortunate consequences. To ensure successful transmission of your priority document(s) to an Office of Second Filing, please submit such authorization as early as possible during the prosecution of your US application.

E-Office Action Pilot Moves Forward:

The USPTO is hosting a pilot program for customers to evaluate and comment on the usability and functionality of the e-Office Action program. As an alternative to receiving new outgoing correspondence related to a patent application in paper via postal mail, this program sends the pilot participant an e-mail notification to directly access outgoing documents in Private PAIR. The pilot will be entering Phase IV on August 31, 2007, and USPTO will open registration in the pilot to a limited number of new participants at this time. If you are interested in participating in the e-Office Action pilot, please e-mail the PAIR team with your Customer Numbers at pair@uspto.gov .

Karma?

kar·ma (noun) - the cosmic principle according to which each person is rewarded or punished in one incarnation according to that person's deeds in the previous incarnation.

Federal contractor T.R. Systems has filed suit against IBM over a damaged server worth $1.4 million. From an article in Information Week:

T.R. Systems says its workers were moving the server from a freight truck into its warehouse in Alexandria, Va., when the mishap occurred. "The rear wheels of their forklift hit the raised surface at the entry door of the warehouse, causing the forklift to rock, and subsequently causing the server to rock," T.R. Systems says in court papers filed last month. "As a result of the rocking motion, the base of the pallet and the crate broke and the crate fell onto the curb, damaging the server packed inside," the contractor states in papers filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va.

T.R. Systems claims IBM refused to take back the damaged server or send technicians to inspect or repair it. As a result, the company claims it was forced to purchase a replacement server from IBM following the October incident. The server was ultimately bound for T.R. Systems' customer the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. (Link)