Via this RSSMojo post:  New Private Pair

Matt Buchanan and I (Stephen M. Nipper) listened to the USPTO presentation on Private Pair earlier. Here are our notes.

The four main new features touted:

1. web based digital certificate security—you don’t need USPTO Direct anymore. Log in using your browser (Internet Explorer…they pointed out that FireFox may or may not work (worked just fine for both of us)). All you (and your secretary) need is your digital certificate (your old .EFS file) and your EFS password. USPTO Direct will still work but will be eventually phased out.

2. first action prediction—new tab in Private Pair gives you a prediction as to when you can expect a first office action. They’ll even generate a letter for you which you can print for your file (and your client).

3. new look and feel - a uniform, tabbed browser interface is easy to navigate and fairly intuitive

4. supplemental content—biosequence listings, text tables, computer program listings, etc.

Later today, the presentation (audio and slides) will be available here: http://webex.client.ninesystems.com/uspto

It is working right now! We’ve both tested it. Here is the login: http://portal.uspto.gov/external/portal/home . It says “private beta” (we bet that is removed later today) but you can still log in. Then select “Enter Private Pair.” The next page is where you enter your digital certificate and password.

Kudos to the PTO team that is responsible for this effort — the new system is a major step forward. Also, the presenation was well-organized and nicely handled. Great job!

An online copy of Bruce Judson’s book on starting your own business (Go it alone) is now online. If you can’t stand reading a book on your computer, the hard copy can be bought at Amazon. [via LifeHacker]

When: April 6-7, 2006

Where: The Bellagio, Las Vegas, Nevada

What: PATENT DRAFTING & PROSECUTION: NEW DEVELOPMENTS AND PRACTICAL TIPS.

Web: www.dunescle.com

I noticed earlier that the UIAUSA has a thorough list of inventor resources:  Inventor’s Connection Page. 

Topics include:  funding sources, government grants, scams, invention evaluations, inventor support groups, manufacturing, marketing & licensing, prototypes, virtual prototype & engineering design, trade shows, invention websites, product certification, and business plans.

Via an email I just received…

The United States Patent & Trademark Office invites you to participate in a special web announcement event on Thursday, February 23rd at 2 p.m. Eastern to discuss important new enhancements to Private PAIR.

To participate in this event, which will be conducted via web-cast, you must first register by clicking on the following link:

http://webex.client.ninesystems.com/uspto

During this one-hour event, USPTO’s e-Commerce Program Manager William Stryjewski will review important enhancements to Private PAIR including:

• Changes to Private PAIR access
• Availability of additional Content
• First Action Prediction
• Security changes

Remember, this web announcement will be held Thursday, February 23rd at 2 p.m. Eastern/11 a.m. Pacific and requires registration. Don’t miss this important opportunity to learn more about the changes to PAIR conducted by USPTO’s eCommerce Program Manager, Mr. William Stryjewski.

Click here to assure your placement on the invitation list for this web event.

http://webex.client.ninesystems.com/uspto

United States Patent & Trademark Office
Search and Information Resources
600 Dulany St.
Alexandria, VA

UPDATE/EDIT:  someone pointed out that the URL contained my personal information…nice.  I’ve killed the link for now.  If someone finds a real URL, please post a comment.  Thanks.  SMN

Article: SMALL ENTITIES AND THE “FIRST TO INVENT” PATENT SYSTEM: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS [pdf]

by The Honorable Gerald J. Mossinghoff, Oblon, Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt

Forward by Robert A. Armitage, Eli Lilly and Company, Senior Vice President and General Counsel

Technorati Tags: patent reform

I started blogging here in January of 2004.  I didn’t have a book guiding me.  I didn’t have a mentor walking me through HOW to do it. It was truly on the job training (plus what I learned from other bloggers (Doug, Matt, etc.).  Sadly, my blog is screwed up.  It really is. 

The good thing is that I know that.  I’ve learned from it.  I know what I would do differently (things that I am doing differently at my other blog (Rethink(IP)).  I also have been able to use that knowledge for good…recently helping a quite famous author tweak his blog (which is currently receiving a zillion hits a day). 

So…what are the lessons I learned?

1.    Portability, portability, portability.  That is my latest mantra.  I see myself standing on stage like 08656696643&q=developers+developers+developers”>Steve Balmer shouting  “portability portability portability.”  What ever am I talking about?  The future. Your blog needs to be set up with an eye for the future.  What will you do if TypePad goes under (or raises their price substantially)?  What will you do if your favorite blog program ceases further development? What if, what if, what if?  You need options.  You need a Plan B.  That Plan B is portability.

There are two main ways you give your blog portability.  (1) free your RSS feed and (2) get your own domain. Right now, most bloggers RSS feeds are provided by their blog host provider.  Whether that be TypePad, Blogger, etc.  What happens if you decide to move your blog somewhere else in the future?  Being that all of your RSS readers are locked onto your blog host provider’s feed, you’ll have to convince them to all open their aggregators and change your RSS feed to your new one.  What a pain.  [Note:  I did this well into my second year of blogging.  If you've been reading my blog (The Invent Blog) for a LONG time, you might check to make sure you have my most current RSS feed in your aggregator.  It is actually a pretty easy thing to do.  Try to subscribe to this feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheInventBlog. If that is the feed you have in your aggregator, you're good to go.  If you end up with two Invent Blog feeds...you'll need to find my original (nip.blogs.com) feed and kill it.]

Thus, it is my opinion that the sooner that you get an independent RSS feed the better.  Separate your RSS feed from your blog’s home.  That way your blog could be anywhere…and your readers will always find you.  The easiest way to do that is via a FeedBurner feed.  If you don’t have a FeedBurner feed, do so right now. Portability is just one of the cool things FeedBurner lets you do.

OK.  So your RSS readers will be able to follow you wherever you go. What about your HTML readers?  If you have “blogspot” or “blogs.com” or “typepad.com” (etc.) in your blog’s URL…not good.  That means that all of your old posts (and Google juice) are locked onto your blog provider’s domain name.  Thus, if you ever switch to a different blog provider/software you can kiss your old links and juice good-bye. Thus, you need to immediately, if not sooner, go register a domain name and map that domain name (”domain mapping”) to your blog. I now you can do that with TypePad blogs, but I don’t think you can with Blogger blogs (if true, I’d avoid Blogger).  [note:  I haven't yet done this on The Invent Blog...and I dread it severely.  Losing 2 years of Google juice will be quite painful.  A move to WordPress is in the future....].  If you map your posts to your own domain name, no matter where your blog is hosted, or what server it sits on, your readers will always be able to find your old posts.  That is pure gold!

2.  Recognize that your readers aren’t as nerdy as you.  What percent of your daily traffic comes via Google?  Guess what?  Most of those hits are from people who don’t know what a blog is, let alone know what an RSS aggregator is.  If you EVER want to see those readers again you either have to hope they create a bookmark to your site and come back OR you need to make it as easy as possible to subscribe to your content.  That means e-mail. 

Do you have a way for your readers to subscribe by email?  I recommend FeedBlitz (which you can link to your FeedBurner account).  Get an account and place a subscription box on your blog TODAY.  Want to guess what percent of my readers get my RSS feed via FeedBlitz?  As of today, 48.1%.  Hundreds of people.  If I didn’t offer email subscription how many of them would read it every day?  ZERO. 

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3.  Closely related to #2 is the nice chicklets that FeedBurner and others offer.  These little buttons enable your readers to easily add your blog to their aggregators, whether they be Bloglines, Google Personalized Home Page, Yahoo!, Newsgator, etc.  Again, make it easy for people to subscribe.

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4.   Stats.  If you are using the stats program that came with your blog host provider/ISP…chances are it is lame.  I recommend StatCounter. It is free and gives you a tremendous quantity of information about your number of readers and what they were reading.  Why stats?  See #5 below.

5.  Enable full RSS feeds.  Using the above techniques you can now see who actually reads your blog.  Thus, there is no reason you shouldn’t enable full RSS feeds.  You can toss that excuse of “I want people to visit the HTML page so I can see how many readers I have” out the window.  Don’t be rude to your readers just so you can see who they are.  If my aggregator loads your posts and I can only read the first sentence of your post…I’ll be damned if I am going to go to your blog to read the rest.  I know of a number of great IP and LPM blogs who I refuse to read because of this.  Don’t make me name names.  Don’t be rude!

In summary:  make your blog portable and make it user friendly.  It is as easy as that.

I’ll open the comments…feel free to add your own two cents.

[update:  See also Things I Wish I Knew When Starting a Blog]

[update: See also http://www.dailyblogtips.com/blogging-mistakes-final-list/]

Via the National Association of Patent Practitioners’ newsletter: 

Patent Prosecution and Appeal Tips–From PTO Day: Changes to Statutes and Filing Procedures [pdf] by Nancy Baum Delain, Esq.