Improving the Accuracy of the Trademark Register…

There is a notice in Tuesday’s (May 16, 2017) Federal Register which may be of interest to some people. The item:
Improving the Accuracy of the Trademark Register: Request for Comments on Possible Streamlined Version of Cancellation Proceedings on Grounds of Abandonment and Nonuse

is issued out of the  Patent & Trademark Office (Docket Number PTO-T-2017-0012) and is looking for interested parties to comment on streamlining version of ” the existing inter partes abandonment and nonuse grounds for cancellation before the USPTO’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board”

Here is an excerpt:
SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”)
seeks comments from stakeholders, mark owners, and all those interested
in the maintenance of an accurate U.S. Trademark Register, on the
establishment of a streamlined version of the existing inter partes
abandonment and nonuse grounds for cancellation before the USPTO’s
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”).

DATES: To ensure consideration, comments should be submitted no later
than August 14, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent by electronic mail message over the
Internet addressed to: TTABFRNotices@uspto.gov or to the following
address: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Trademark Trial and
Appeal Board, P.O. Box 1451, Alexandria, VA 22313-1451, ATTN: Cynthia
Lynch.
The comments will be available for public inspection via the USPTO
Web site at http://www.uspto.gov. Because comments will be made
available for public inspection, information that the submitter does
not desire to make public, such as an address or phone number, should
not be included in the comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cynthia Lynch, Trademark Trial and
Appeal Board, by email at TTABFRNotices@uspto.gov or by telephone at
(571) 272-8742.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

As part of the USPTO’s ongoing effort to improve the accuracy of
the U.S. Trademark Register, the USPTO has been consulting with
stakeholders on

[[Page 22518]]

ways to eliminate from the Register registrations for marks that are
not in use. Stakeholders asked the USPTO to consider creating
additional tools to facilitate challenges by interested parties to
registrations for unused marks. The USPTO considered cost and
efficiency, the potential for abuse of any such tools, U.S. treaty
obligations, and the existing legal framework for abandonment, nonuse,
and registration-maintenance requirements.
The USPTO has assessed many options, including making statutory and
regulatory changes, as part of this ongoing effort and has decided to
prioritize proposals for modifying existing regulations at this time.
Accordingly, this Request for Comments addresses an option for a
streamlined version of the existing inter partes abandonment and nonuse
grounds for cancellation before the TTAB (“Streamlined
Proceedings”).\1\
—————————————————————————

\1\ If this Streamlined Proceedings proposal is implemented, the
USPTO will have a better sense of whether the proceedings are
effective for their intended purpose and can then evaluate whether
proposals necessitating statutory amendment also would be useful.
—————————————————————————

Streamlined Proceedings…

The full-text of the notice can be found at the Government Printing Office and searching OR click this link. If you’re searching for it or the link doesn’t work the complete citation is… 82 Fed. Reg. 22517 (May 16, 2017)

 

 

 

 

 

Inventor Chat

Greetings

The USPTO and the Office of Innovation Developement (OID) is offering a series of webinars to help the independent inventor. Each are about 30 minutes long and cover relevant topics to assist in the patent process.

The next one is May 18th (sorry for the short notice…) at 11am. The topic “How to use EFS-Web to File a Patent Application” will feature Richard Fernandez and Lisa Tran.

Here’s the link to the event. For more information, questions, or comments you can send an email to: inventorinfochat@uspto.gov

Clink here for information on the upcoming, as well as the previous, 2017 programs.

 

 

World IP Day 2017

I know what you’re thinking – “Why is he writing anything about World IP Day? that’s like Christmas! Who could possible forget when it is…” But this post is for people don’t necessarily know about it.

World IP Day (WIPD) is celebrated throughout the world every April 26th. It is sponsored by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in order to “…to learn about the role that intellectual property rights (patents, trademarks, industrial designs, copyright) play in encouraging innovation and creativity.

I know it’s only a few days away but there are some really great events happening all over the world. A complete list can be found on the WIPO site right here, just zoom in on the map to get a closer look at what’s happening in your area.

Since the name of the site is Buffalo IP, I’ll give a special shout out to the law firm Del Vecchio & Stadler LLP. In honor of WIPD  they are hosting the Pirate Fight Club at their offices at 500 Washington St., Buffalo 14203. I have zero affiliation with Del Vecchio & Stradler, LLP – I just want to let people know that they are participating in the celebrations on April 26.

 

 

First blog post

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