Monthly Archives: August 2005

Pitfalls of on-line patent searching

Via this month’s WIPO Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Newsletter, an article that asks:  “Are Search Statements Submitted to Patent Databases Public Disclosure of an Invention?”  See:  On-Line Patent Searching – A Cautionary Tale.  In the article, the author suggests that “ perhaps the best solution [to the risk of disclosure] is to file a Provisional [...]

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USPTO News — automatically sent to you

Over at rethink(ip) we had a recent post on RSS feeds for USPTO news. One thing we found was that lots of people are interested in the feeds, but few of them have RSS readers.
There are ways to subscribe to blogs (including this one) via email. For instance, I have a subscription box (as [...]

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RSS finds the Patent Office

Necessity is the mother of invention, and the USPTO’s delay in using RSS has led the guys at the Rethink(ip) Blog (Doug, Matt and me) to create RSS feeds of the USPTO’s News and Notices page.  We’ve created an Official Gazette feed, a Trademark feed, a Patent feed, a “General News” feed, and a mega [...]

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The Worldwide Intellecutal Property Law and Policy Blog

Matt at Promote the Progress recently posted on his desire to drastically change the format of his blog.  I just noticed that he has officially repurposed his Promote the Progress blog, choosing to focus on “Worldwide Intellectual Property Law and Policy.”  It is a great move and really focuses his blog into what he is [...]

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Idaho’s Podcasting U.S. Senator

Too funny.  I just noticed that Senator Larry Craig’s (ID) website touts him as the “first U.S. Senator to offer his own podcast,” distributing his “Washington Report,” a 3-5 minute, bi-weekly audio program featuring news from Washington.  Not only does he have a podcast, but he has an RSS news feed.  More info.
If even Idaho’s Senator is [...]

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PDF Patents…the Guide has been updated

My guide to downloading patent copies off the Internet has been updated:
PDFpatents.com.  Free (slow) or Register and pay as you go ($1/each or cheaper).

It amazes me how I am still finding new (to me) patent downloading sites almost a year after my original post.  I initially thought that the Guide would be finished within a [...]

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Plan B for inventors

New inventor reading list:  Start Protecting Your Intellectual Property in 5 Simple Steps
Summary:  you should hire an IP attorney right off the bat, but if you can’t, do these five things.

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Free Law Practice Tips!

One great blog that I’m not sure I’ve ever mentioned is Jim Calloway’s Law Practice Tips Blog.  With posts like Microsoft Releases Word Redaction Tool, Paste Special- One of the best tips ever!, and Teaching Staff about Confidentiality, how can you go wrong?

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You need a Brain Dump

One of the best things I did this past year was create a Word document out on my server called “The Brain Dump.”  Onto the Brain Dump I “dump” every idea that pops into my head about how we could run our law firm better.  Some are good, some are bad, some are ugly.  Then, [...]

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