Well, that pretty much settles that controversy.

Somebody doing a little historical research in the USPTO database (article here) has uncovered the original patent for perforated toilet paper, thereby answering the "over v. under" question once and for all.



And the verdict is...

 As it should be.

That's some highfalutin' lawyer talk, right there. That's what that is.

In case you missed it, the Supreme Court has not only denied Sigram Schindler's petition for cert in its appeal from the USPTO (you can read the petition here); it's considering sanctions against the attorney who filed the petition.

Here's the question presented:

“Does the US Constitution, in legal decisions based on 35 USC §§ 101/102/103/112,

• require instantly avoiding the inevitable legal errors in construing incomplete and vague classical claim constructions – especially for “emerging technology claim(ed invention)s, ET CIs” – by construing for them the complete/concise refined claim constructions of the Supreme Court’s KSR/Bilski/Mayo/Myriad/Biosig/Alice line of unanimous precedents framework,

or does the US Constitution for such decisions

• entitle any public institution to refrain, for ET CIs, for a time it feels feasible, from proceeding as these Supreme Court precedents require – or meeting its requirements just by some lip-service – and in the meantime to construe incomplete classical claim constructions, notwithstanding their implied legal errors?

Wow.

Did not see that coming (Troll edition)

The US District Court for the District of Nebraska has ruled (decision here) that the state of Nebraska must pay $725,000 in fees and costs to NPE "MPHJ Technology Investment LLC" after the state AG sent cease and desist orders to MPHJ pursuant to a suit filed under the state's anti-patent-trolling statute.  According to the Court, the state "violated 42 USC 1983 and the First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitutuion."

Ouch.

Lies, damn lies, and statistics

From the FY 2014 USPTO Annual Report (link here):  

Average patent pendency is down (to almost 2 1/2 years), but average time to first OA is flat (at about 1 1/2 years).

The backlog of unexamined applications stands at over 605,000, which is down almost 20% (!) from 2009.

Maintenance fees account for over 45% of FY 2014 patent revenue.

Total patent fee collections in FY 2014: $2.9B.

Congressional Hearings on USPTO Telework: Farce or Travesty?

A joint hearing held by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the House Judiciary Committee heard testimony this week regarding telework at the USPTO (story here).

I have no doubt that some examiners are gaming the system.  It has always been thus.  

That said, here's an interesting fact:  in 2013, House members drew a salary of $174,000. Not bad, considering the median household income in 2013 was right around $52K.  But in 2013 the House was in session for 113 days.  That works out to an annual salary, for a 50-week year of five-day work weeks, of just under $385,000.  

But who knows how much of that time they actually spent on the people's business?  Fact is, nobody is keeping track of the hours that our representatives actually work.  They work for US, the taxpayers. How are we supposed to know if we're getting the work that we're paying for?  And I mean working on the stuff we send them to Washington to do, not working on raising money so they can get re-elected.  They can do that on their own time.  

So I have a suggestion for the House: no more hearings about patent examiners' work habits until representatives are willing to be accountable to us for their own work habits.

Wrigley, WTF?

According to this story in Above the Law, Wrigley (the chewing gum people) is opposing the application of Perfetti (the Mentos people) to register the mark "WTF."  Perfetti, which likes slightly off-center advertising, apparently plans to use "WTF" and the phrase "What The Fresh" to market its minty products.  Wrigley argues that consumers will confuse these marks with its own "Winterfresh" gum.


Yeah.  That's what I think of when I hear "WTF."

What's the Spanish word for "chutzpah?"

"A former executive with Spain's main copyright organization has been sentenced to prison for spending €40,000 ($50,000) in brothels using a corporate credit card, with a judge describing as "nonsense" the man's claims that the visits were work-related."

Full article here