If you are familiar with software engineering, then you may have heard of the DRY principle: Don’t Repeat Yourself.

There are some PDF forms that we use over and over. Often times, the information we enter into the forms has already been entered elsewhere. For example, consider an Application Data Sheet. It’s likely that much of the information has already been entered into your docketing system. Wouldn’t it be great if you could enter this information one time, and then re-use it every time you need it instead of typing the same information over and over?

Good news: you can. You may already be familiar with using your database to complete word processing documents using mail merge. But what about PDF forms? More good news: PDF forms can complete themselves! They can do this by importing data into the form. By the way, this process works with both Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat.

As a result, it’s possible to autocomplete your PDF forms using data you already have on hand, such as the data you have stored in your docketing database. The trick is to appropriately format your data so that the PDF document can import it and use it to populate the form.

Okay, here’s the caveat: Automatically populating your forms, PDF or otherwise, can save you time and help you avoid clerical errors. However, it’s important to note that there is no substitute for careful proofreading, even when using an automated system to complete your forms. I’m not going to list all of the things that can go wrong, but you can imagine that it’s possible that errors can exist in source data or errors can occur during the import process.

Okay, so with that out of the way, in this first part of this multipart entry, I will discuss how to format the data so that it can be imported into your PDF form. Then in later parts (Parts II-?) I will discuss how to create the properly formatted file from your data source so that your data can be imported into your PDF form. (I may get that all into Part II, or it may end up getting split into Parts II and III.)

Part I: Figuring out how to format the data so that it can be imported

Fortunately, it’s a relatively simple matter to determine the proper data format: just export some sample data from the form that you want to autocomplete.

For this example, I will use the declaration form for a patent application that includes an application data sheet (SB01A). This is one of the simpler forms from the USPTO, and I’m just using it for ease of explanation. The same process can be used for longer forms.

So the first step is to determine how the import data should be formatted. To do this, open a copy of the form in Adobe Reader or Acrobat, and fill in the entire form with some sample data. Preferably your sample data should actually be unique descriptions of each blank. You will see the reason for this later on. For example, instead of making up a fictional title, type something like TITLE or TITLE GOES HERE:

Once you have populated the entire form with your sample data, the next step is to export the data. In Adobe Acrobat 8 Standard, you can find this at Forms > Manage Form Data > Export Data:

If you are using Adobe Reader 9, you can find this at Document > Forms > Export Data:

If you are using a different version of Acrobat or Reader, you should still have the option to export data, but it may be located somewhere else. Try looking around in your menu items, it’s probably there somewhere. Once you click on “Export Data” a save-file dialog box will open. Make a note of where you save the file and the file name, and be sure to save the file as an XML document:

Now you can take a look at the xml file that you just saved. To do this, find the file and right-click on it to see your “Open With” options and pick one of your web browsers:

Your web browser should open the xml file and display it for you. Here is what mine looked like:

If you’re not familiar with xml, don’t panic. Keep reading, it’s not that bad. You don’t need to be an xml expert to get through this. The key thing to recognize is that the statements in the file repeat this basic pattern:

<xml opening tag>Your Data</xml closing tag>

Now you will understand why we added the descriptive text to the form before we exported the data. By looking though this xml file, you should see the text you typed into each blank. This allows you to map where your data should go without the need to try to interpret the xml tags. For example, take a look at line 3 of the xml file:

<Asamendedon xfdf:original=”As amended on”>AMENDMENT DATE</Asamendedon>

Don’t worry about the parts in the <> brackets. The only part to pay attention to is what’s between them. Looking at this, we can see that we need to replace “AMENDMENT DATE” with an actual date that we want in the form.

So, in order to import some data into this particular PDF form, we just need to create a text file exactly like the one above, but replace the “Your Data” parts with the information that we want in the form.

This may seem complicated, but luckily there’s an easy way to do this: Mail Merge!

In Part II (and III?), I will describe how you can create a mail merge document from the xml file discussed above. You can then use mail merge to automatically merge your information into a new xml file, which can then be imported into the PDF. It’s a bit of work on the front end to get a mail merge document created. But, once you have your mail merge document created, it becomes a quick and easy process to autocomplete your PDF forms.

If you haven’t used Search’n'Save, give it a try. It’s a simple website that let’s you do Google searches and set aside results that you want to keep. You can perform multiple searches (in the left column) and your saved links stay right there where you pinned them (in the right column). All links to search results open in new windows so that your saved results stay right where you left them while you scan the websites, patents, books, blogs, etc. that come up in your search results. When you are finished searching, you can copy/paste your saved results into your own document (e.g., for reporting search results to a client, citing art to the USPTO, etc.). I plan to add an export feature in the future, but for now the copy/paste option works okay.

The most apparent new features added over the weekend are the new delete links in the saved results:

There is also a new “clear all” link that will clear all of your saved results:

For those interested in the code, behind the scenes the javascript code was revised to use jquery. This should make it easier to add additional features such as the new delete buttons added over the weekend.

Image via Wikipedia

Google introduced it’s patent search site several years ago, and it quickly became one of the websites that I visit most frequently. It’s very useful for research, patent searching, and getting pdf copies of patents. Here are a few tips and tricks for using Google’s patent search site.

Link directly to a patent or patent application publication

You can link directly to any patent or patent application publication at “http://www.google.com/patents/USxxxxxxx” where “xxxxxxx” is the patent or publication number. Note that this is case-sensitive, so everything after /patents/ must be all-caps.

Here are some examples:

US Patent No. 7,654,321: http://www.google.com/patents/US7654321

US Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0000001: http://www.google.com/patents/US20110000001

US Design Patent No. D454,321: http://www.google.com/patents/USD454321

Link directly to PDF of a patent or patent application publication

You can link directly to a PDF any patent or patent application publication at “http://www.google.com/patents/USxxxxxxx.pdf” where “xxxxxxx” is the patent or publication number. Note that this is case-sensitive, so everything after /patents/ must be all-caps.

Here are some examples:

US Patent No. 7,654,321: http://www.google.com/patents/US7654321.pdf

US Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0000001: http://www.google.com/patents/US20110000001.pdf

US Design Patent No. D454,321: http://www.google.com/patents/USD454321.pdf

Include Similar Key Words, Exclude Others

You can instruct Google to include similar terms by adding a tilde (~) to the beginning of the search term. For example, compare the results you get for “phone” to the results you get for “~phone”:

Search for phone

Search for ~phone

The tilde operator actually works with any Google search, and can be useful to broaden your search results to include similar results that you may have otherwise missed. On the other hand, you can also narrow your search by instructing Google to exclude certain word by including a dash (-) before the term, e.g., “lamp -halogen” would exclude halogen lamps from your search results.

Digging Deeper into the Patent History – Downloading PAIR Data

Google can also provide a copy of the “file wrapper” for many patents and published applications. A file wrapper is a file created by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office while a patent is pending, and generally includes many documents related to the patent application such as the original application and correspondence (e.g., rejections, amendments, etc.) between the Patent Office and the Applicant.

The file wrapper provided by Google is actually part of a zip file you will get that also includes other data from public PAIR, such as application data, attorney/agent information, patent term adjustment, etc. For those unfamiliar, public PAIR is the public Patent Application Information Retrieval service provided by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

You can access the PAIR/File Wrapper zip file by modifying the following link. Just replace “APP_NUM” with the 8-digit application number of a patent/patent publication (omitting the slash and comma).

http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/uspto-pair/applications/APP_NUM.zip

For example, to retrieve the PAIR/File Wrapper for U.S. Patent No. 7,654,321, which issued from Application No. 11/616,583, use the following link:

http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/uspto-pair/applications/11616583.zip

The zip file will contain a directory of .tsv files, which are tab-delimited text files that can be imported into a spreadsheet or opened with a text editor or word processor. There will also be a directory called image_file_wrapper, which contains electronic copies of the contents of the patent application’s file wrapper in pdf format.

Image via Wikipedia

The era of personal 3D printing is (almost) here.

Machines capable of printing 3D objects have been around for many years. But recently this fascinating technology has reached the point where the personal 3D printer has become a reality. At this year’s CES, for example, MakerBot Industries and Cubify both introduced 3D printers for the everyday consumer. Cubify also introduced a cloud-based 3D printing service, where a consumer can upload 3D data, then Cubify will have it printed and delivered.

The prices of personal 3D printers are still a bit too high to appeal to the average consumer – some numbers I’ve seen have been in the $1,200 to $1,700 range. But the raw material used by the 3D printers, their “ink” equivalent, is surprisingly inexpensive. For example, you can purchase about 1kg of raw plastic material for little more than the cost of an ink jet printer cartridge. And as with other technologies, expect the prices of the 3D printers to continue to drop.

So what does this mean for your intellectual property?

Consider this scenario: a consumer purchases your new product, creates a 3D scan of it (or a portion of it), uploads the 3D scan data to a file-sharing website, and suddenly anyone, anywhere in the world, can print your product using the 3D scan data and their own 3D printer.

Sound far-fetched? It’s not. In fact, just recently The Pirate Bay announced the creation of a new portion of their file-sharing website devoted to 3D scans, which they are calling “physibles.” Are you ready if your patented product shows up in the “physibles” library?

While there may not yet be a 3D printer in every home, the day is coming, probably sooner than we imagine. So consider this: the patent application you are drafting today should be ready to protect the invention for the next 20 years, during which time 3D printing is likely to become as common as ink-jet printers are today. Take this into account while you plan your patent strategy. Are there any aspects of the invention that could be vulnerable to virtual copying? For example, are there any potential embodiments that could include transfer of 3D model data and 3D printing?

Also, think about whether it may be appropriate to seek one or more design patents for various aspects of the product. Are there important components that could be covered by a design patent?

While you’re at it, remember to be careful with the scope of your design patents.  Are there portions of the design that could be modified by a user, e.g., by manipulating the 3D design using CAD software, without departing from the novel aspect of your invention? If so, those portions of the design patent drawings should probably be shown in broken lines. Can your product be broken down into multiple components that may have their own novel designs? If so, you may want to consider pursuing multiple design patents.

Personal 3D printing is an exciting new technology. The potential uses for 3D printing extend beyond what I can imagine. But, unfortunately, the potential uses include activities that could infringe on other’s intellectual property rights. So it’s important to begin taking this potential problem into consideration when planning an IP strategy. As many of us have seen, the current rate of advancements in technology have a way of making today’s possibilities into tomorrow’s realities.

Have you started to consider the implications of 3D printing and how it may affect your or your client’s intellectual property? If so, how has it affected your approach to obtaining IP? Let me know in the comments below!

Anyone else ready for summer? Design patent no. D653,172 covers a design for a “Mobile Ice Cream Kiosk”:

Also, it looks like Facebook has patented the design of their website. Check out design patent no. D653,258:

A common task for patent prosecutors is to evaluate and, if appropriate, prepare a response to an Office action. The patent regulations require that the response “must reply to every ground of objection and rejection in the prior Office action.” (37 C.F.R. 111(b)) However, despite good intentions, occasionally a practitioner will, for one reason or another, fail to address every ground of objection and rejection. Perhaps they are too focused on an obviousness rejection, and forget about that minor specification objection. While it’s not necessarily a fatal error, it is an error that can be avoided with the use of a good outline.

[As an aside, if you are curious about what happens if you submit an incomplete response to an Office action, see MPEP 714.03.]

So it’s a good idea to get into the habit of outlining an Office action as a first step in its evaluation. A good outline can serve as a checklist later on, when you’re ready to file a response, to make sure that you’ve addressed everything. In addition, your outline can provide you with an summary that you can reference when explaining the Office action to your client. Also, if you receive a subsequent Office action, you can compare outlines to quickly see whether you’ve made any progress, or if the same rejections have been repeated.

Using a fictitious example, here’s how I usually go about outlining my Office actions. (Scroll to the bottom to see the completed outline)

First, at the top of the page, I write the docket number and then outline the claims:

In this example, claims 1, 6, 12, and 13 are independent claims. The commas “point” to dependent claims. So, for example, claims 2, 4, and 5 depend from claim 1; claim 3 depends from claim 2; and so on.

Next, I write the Office action type and date:

Here, NFOA stands for Non-Final Office Action. Alternatively, I might use FOA for Final Office Action or RR for Restriction Requirement. If you are a new practitioner or don’t do much prosecution work, it’s not a bad idea to write the response deadline out to the side as well.

Finally, I list the objections and rejections in the order they appear in the Office action:

Each item in the list includes the subject portions of the application, then the type of objection/rejection, and then notes about the basis of the objection/rejection. Some of the shorthand I use includes ivo = in view of; fivo = further in view of; Obj = objection; 102 = anticipation rejection under 35 USC 102; 103 = obviousness rejection under 35 USC 103; a.i.r.i.i.f. = allowable if re-written in independent form.

At this point, it’s a good idea to count the claims in the list to make sure that all claims are present and accounted-for. The eagle-eyed practitioner will notice that claim 10 is missing in this example. Time to go back and look for it in the Office action to see if you missed it or if the Examiner failed to address it. This highlights another advantage of outlining – it allows you to catch these types of issues early-on when they can best be addressed.

Here’s what the completed outline sheet looks like after a couple of Office actions:

(Click for a larger view)

After outlining the second Office action, you can compare the two Office actions and easily see that you overcame some objections, and you made some progress with some claims, while other claims remain rejected.

There’s nothing special about this format. Feel free to use it or change it to meet your needs. The key is that it’s complete and easy for you to understand. If it meets that criteria, it will serve as a useful tool to help you catch mistakes and get a quick overview of the progress of the patent application.

Do you have a different method of outlining or tracking your application’s progress? Tell me about it in the comments!

This week’s case in point: US D652,615 for a “Combined beach umbrella and entrenching tool.”

This caught my attention because I couldn’t imagine how someone could use a shovel that had a large umbrella attached to the end of the handle. But, then I realized that the shovel appears to be detachable. So I guess it’s a convenience issue – carry your shovel and umbrella together. Still, when I see this image, I can’t help but imagine someone trying to dig a hole with a shovel that’s attached to a large umbrella.

]]> http://patentbytes.com/interesting-patents-umbrella-shovel/feed/ 0 http://patentbytes.com/new-patentbytes-beta-site/ http://patentbytes.com/new-patentbytes-beta-site/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:44:09 +0000 PatentBytes http://beta.patentbytes.com/?p=125 Continue reading →]]> Welcome to the new re-designed PatentBytes website!
PatentBytes has been transitioned to WordPress and re-designed to be more user-friendly.
I had several goals in mind for the new version of the Patent Bytes website.
First, I wanted to make it easier to access the various search options. So now users can easily conduct full-text searches of the MPEP, patent regulations, patent laws, etc. using the form located on the front page. The search results open in a new window so that it’s easy to repeat the same search of another source by just returning to this page, selecting another source, then clicking search again.
Second, I’ve broadened the scope of the sources from which recent blog headlines are retrieved and consolidated them on the home page next to recent patent-related news headlines. So now, with a quick glance at the home page, visitors can get a glimpse of recent happenings in the patent world.
A third goal was to try to make the site easier to maintain and update. Past versions of this site have been built on CMS platforms PostNuke and Joomla. These are good platforms, but really more complex than necessary for this site. So far I’ve enjoyed working with WordPress. I’m optimistic that WordPress will make it easier for me to update and maintain this site, and maybe even write an occasional blog entry.
Let me know what you think about the new site, and feel free to offer suggestions. You can comment below or contact me at the email address located below.