Monthly Archives: January 2008

2007 Top U.S. Patent Assignees from ISIClaims

Posted on January 21, 2008 by mjwhitekingston

Last week IFIClaims, a patent information company owned by Walters Kluwer Health , released its annual list of top U.S. patent assignees for 2007. According to the report, the USPTO issued 157,284 utility patents last year, a decline of about … Continue reading →

Posted in IFIClaims, Patent statistics | 1 Comment

IPI-ConfEx 2008 – International Patent Information Conference

Posted on January 20, 2008 by mjwhitekingston

The final program for IPI-ConfEx 2008, an international patent information conference, is now available online. IPI-ConfEx is scheduled for March 2-5 in Seville, Spain and will feature a of presentations from EPO and WIPO staff, patent information vendors and corporate … Continue reading →

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Fictional Brands

Posted on January 20, 2008 by mjwhitekingston

Last Sunday’s Toronto Star had an interesting story about fictional brands from film and literature that have inspired real-life products. Some examples include HOLIDAY INN hotels, said to have been inspired by the 1942 Bing Crosby movie of the same … Continue reading →

Posted in brands, fiction, trademarks | Leave a comment

Infringement = Triple Word Score

Posted on January 20, 2008 by mjwhitekingston

An AP story reports that Hasbro and Mattel, makers of Scrabble(R), are unhappy with an unauthorized online version of the game called Scrabulous. The companies, which share worldwide rights to the boardgame, have sent cease-and-desist letters to the two brothers … Continue reading →

Posted in boardgames, trademarks | Leave a comment

Public PAIR Verification System

Posted on January 12, 2008 by mjwhitekingston

The USPTO has implemented a new verification system for users accessing Public PAIR (Patent Application Information Retrieval). Users must now enter a two-word verification code in order to access the system. The system is meant to block bots and spiders. … Continue reading →

Posted in PAIR, USPTO | Leave a comment

Everyday Edisons – Season 3

Posted on January 8, 2008 by mjwhitekingston

Everyday Edisons, a show about inventing that debuted on PBS last year, has announced its casting calls for season 3. The first casting call will be in Atlanta on Jan. 12. Other cities in the schedule include San Francisco, Dallas, … Continue reading →

Posted in education, Everyday Edisons, inventors, PBS | Leave a comment

New Classification Orders, #1867-1874

Posted on January 3, 2008 by mjwhitekingston

The USPTO has issued eight new classifications orders since Oct. 1, 2007, an unusually large number for a three-month period. Classes affected include: 711 – Electrical computers and digital processing systems: memory714 – Error detection/correction and fault detection/recovery715 – Data … Continue reading →

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Chinese Patent Databases, EPC 2000, etc.

Posted on January 3, 2008 by mjwhitekingston

The December issue of Patent Information News has several interesting and useful articles on free patent databases from China; the impact of the European Patent Convention (EPC 2000) on patent information searchers; and patent information from Asia.

Posted in EPO, Patent Information News | 1 Comment

USPTO Discontinues Another Paper Publication

Posted on January 1, 2008 by mjwhitekingston

According to a notice published in the Federal Register, the USPTO is discontinuing the paper version of its Patent and Trademark Office Notices effective December 25, 2007. The Notices, which are also published in the weekly Official Gazette, include announcements … Continue reading →

Posted in Notices, Official Gazette, USPTO | Leave a comment

Wikipedia References in Issued Patents

Posted on January 1, 2008 by mjwhitekingston

Back in September 2006 the USPTO banned patent examiners from using Wikipedia as a source of prior art information, citing its unreliability and lack of authority. Well, this apparently hasn’t stopped examiners or inventors from citing the popular online encyclopedia … Continue reading →

Posted in in, Prior art, Wikipedia | 3 Comments