Posts Tagged: "holiday"

Turkey Patent Review 2016: U.S. Turkey Innovation Plummets

Since our last turkey patent report over Thanksgiving 2015 there have only been 5 U.S. patents issued with the word “turkey” in the title, which suggests a steep and rather unexpected decline in the number of turkey related innovations year over year… But the point of this article isn’t just to remind you to let Archimedes by your guide, or to identify a handful of recent patents that deal with turkeys, make a gratuitous mention of football (go Cowboys!), weave in mention of Presidential turkey pardons, or even to take a cheap shot at the PTAB (although I couldn’t resist). Instead, the point of the article is to simply say THANKS! Thank you for reading IPWatchdog.com.

USPTO Director Lee sued for declaring federal holiday, allowing IPR filing after statutory deadline

It was only going to be a matter of time before Director Lee declaring a federal holiday without any statutory authority came back to haunt the USPTO. Here the defendants were served with the complaint on December 24, 2014, which means any IPR had to be filed on or before Thursday, December 24, 2015. The defendants filed their IPR petitions on Monday, December 28, 2015. The patent owner argues in a recently filed federal complaint that the IPR petitions would be considered untimely but for Director Lee declaring December 22-24, 2015, federal holidays due to the catastrophic failure of the USPTO’s electronic filing systems.

The USPTO Director can legally extend filing deadlines for emergencies

In retrospect, the proper thing for Director Lee to have done would have been to declare an emergency under the powers vested in her by 35 USC 21(a). Under §21(a) the Director of the USPTO can declare that a paper was filed on a day that it would have been filed but for a disruption in mail service or emergency. The net effect is that the filing is treated the same as under the Saturday, Sunday or Federal holiday rule. It would be wise for the Patent Office to issue a clarification on this matter, explaining that Director Lee declared an emergency under §21(a) of Title 35 and did not attempt to create a new federal holiday in honor of a catastrophic power outage.

Christmas Kissing Creativity: Mistletoe Innovations

I thought it might be interesting to take a look at one of more fun holiday traditions — kissing under mistletoe. According to History.com, mistletoe is a symbolic herb that has been used in one form or another for thousands of years, but when and how kissing under mistletoe became associated with the Christmas holiday is open for debate. What isn’t open for debate, however, is just how sparse the field of mistletoe innovation really is. Sure, there are a number of patents that deal with mistletoe extracts, but that isn’t exactly in keeping with the holiday theme. There are also a couple design patents of questionable taste, at least for a family audience. I hope you enjoy this selection and have a very Merry Christmas.

Happy Thanksgiving from IPWatchdog

Since last Thanksgiving there have been 11 U.S. patents issued with the word “turkey” in the title. What does this tell us, that there isn’t a lot of patented innovation in any given year dealing with turkeys. Of course, that really isn’t the point of this article. The point of this article is simply to say THANKS! Thank you for reading IPWatchdog.com. From our family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving!