Inevitable Disclosures

In response to a January 2021 Executive Order (EO) on economic relief during the COVID-19 pandemic, the USPTO established an Economic Relief Working Group (ERWG) comprised of individuals from across the USPTO to identify and develop programs and strategies to fulfill the goals of the EO – specifically, “to provide the greatest relief to individuals, families, small business; and to State, local, Tribal, and territorial governments.” Read more

The U.S. Copyright Office is proposing procedures governing active proceedings before the Copyright Claims Board (CCB) and post-determination procedures, as directed by the CASE Act of 2020 including evidence-related topics and post-determination procedures. Read more

On January 5, 2022, Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter announced the appointment of Suzanne “Suzy” Wilson as General Counsel and Associate Register of Copyrights of the United States Copyright Office, effective January 31, 2022. Read more

The U.S. Copyright Office published a Federal Register notice announcing a study to evaluate the merits of providing an option to defer its examination of copyright registration application materials until examination is later requested by the applicant. Read more

The U.S. Copyright Office’s 2020 “Section 512 Report” addressed the role technologies and technical measures can play in addressing internet piracy. Read more

The U.S. Copyright Office is proposing procedures governing representation of parties by law students and representation of business entities by authorized individuals in proceedings before the Copyright Claims Board (CCB), established by the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement (CASE) Act of 2020. Read more

On December 10, 2021, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued an order for sanctions against Huanyee Intellectual Property Co., Ltd. and its Executive Director, Yusha Zhang, for violating the USPTO’s trademark rules of practice. Read more

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is proposing to amend the patent rules of practice so that the official receipt date of correspondence submitted electronically is the date in the Eastern time zone of the United States when the USPTO received the correspondence rather than the date the correspondence address in Alexandria, Virginia, received it. Read more

Effective January 1, 2022, electronic retrievals of priority documents between the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the European Patent Office will be managed via the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Digital Access Service (DAS). Read more

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to revise the rules of practice to issue patents electronically through its patent document viewing systems (i.e., Patent Center and Patent Application Image Retrieval (PAIR)). Read more