If there is an online chat available to communicate with the Patent Electronic Business Center, would you use it?
The format used for application numbers, dates and patent documents are inconsistent in PAIR, assignments, EFS, etc.. All areas of the office should utilize the same format for this data, or the software should be modernized to accept all of the common formats. e.g., 14/999,999 and 14999999 or
2015-01-23 and 1/23/2015 and 01/23/2015 etc.
In addition to collecting text information from applicants, the USPTO would also like to send and display patent application documents in a text format. If your application documents are provided to you in text, will that help you in future electronic filings?
Due to the advances in imaging technology, the patent office should encourage the submission of drawings in greyscale and color.
The SB 08 A to be submitted to the PTO requested that the full month day and year be referenced next to each reference submitted. However when receiving references in an OA from the examiner, only the month and year are referenced. Very time consuming to have to look up each of those references just to find the day of the date to submit the SB 08 A.
When applications are filed and published pre-grant, they have paragraph numbers, and those paragraph numbers are also used during prosecution to make any amendments to the specification When the patent issues, those paragraph numbers disappear and are replaced with column/line numbers. Wouldn't it be easier for the PTO and the reviewing public to have a consistent specification appearance by simply staying with the... more »
Under the Domestic Benefit/National Stage Information section, since the first radio button labeled "Remove" does not work, could it be changed to "Add" instead (that works), so that when a Continuation, Divisional, or Continuation-in-part application is filed we can simply use the ADS from the parent application and choose the "Add" button to add our priority application? This would be extremely helpful especially when... more »
Allow easier removal/correction of documents submitted via EFS-Web
When we log into MyUSPTO and go to file a patent or check PAIR, we are asked to pick a practitioner. As it stands now, the list is haphazard and in no particular order. I saw another submitter suggest that the practitioners be in alphabetical order. I like that idea but I'd like to take it one step further. How about having favorite practitioners? My firm currently has 48, but the ones I work with the most are less than... more »
I suggest modifying the first page of PTO communications to include the title of the invention. This can help attorneys and agents quickly and easily remember the nature of the invention in question, and also makes for easy reference in filling out PTO forms that include a space for the title. It also puts the title in front of the attorney so as to note any typos that need correction. It is practically free and may... more »
As firms and companies are creating individual logins for each user, it would be great to see some functionality around managing those logins at an organizational level. Things like the following: 1. Allow users to associate their personal account with an entity account (allowing an administrator to manage relationships on their behalf). 2. Build account relationships in bulk between users and fee payment methods (one-to-many,... more »
Allow law firms to optionally submit a Microsoft Word format document along with their PDF copy of the patent application filing to reduce the cost and errors associated with typesetting of patent applications.
Most of the internal pre-examination procedures are opaque outside of the USPTO. It would be very help to have, in writing, on the USPTO website the exact internal procedures used to evaluate whether a Power of Attorney form, drawings, application data sheet, etc. are compliant. This would help reduce errors and ultimately reduce USPTO staff work load.
Now that we log into My.USPTO.gov when filing assignments as well, it should be easy to pull data from Public or Private PAIR into the Assignment system (EPAS) to ensure that assignments are correctly recorded. During the validation step, the system should display the title and inventors of the patent/application numbers, so that the attorney can verify that the correct numbers were entered. Erroneous recordations happen... more »
If the PTO could release a statement or update the rules to state that Certificates of Electronic Transmission and manual Fee Sheets, Transmittals for Applications, IDSs, etc. are no longer necessary, that would shave about an hour off of my day, every day. I stopped using these superfluous items years ago, but older attorneys only see where the rules say you "should" use them. I agree, back when paper filing was the... more »