USPTO July Monthly Review

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A look back at the highlights of July 2023

When lawyer Vanessa Carballido Clerch and her husband Francisco Laboy Colondres decided to launch a startup in Puerto Rico to address the need for low-cost and reliable energy, they initially played it safe, with Vanessa reluctant to give up the security of her day job. Hurricane Maria tested her desire to be an entrepreneur even more. To explain her fears — and her ultimate decision — she remembers a fateful decision her own father made 30 years before.

The morning of September 20, 2017, as the roar of Hurricane Maria gave way to an ominous silence under an overcast sky, Vanessa Carballido Clerch and her parents made their way down a residential street in Guaynabo, a suburb of San Juan, Puerto Rico, back to the home they had evacuated in the middle of the night. Carballido Clerch and her husband Francisco Laboy Colondres had decided that she and their 7-year-old son would ride out the storm at her parents’ house in Guaynabo, believing it would be safer than their apartment near the ocean.

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USPTO Director Kathi Vidal and Deputy Executive Director of @euipo Andrea DiCarlo met in Geneva on the sidelines of the @wipo General Assembly to discuss a joint initiative designed to support the IP needs of critical businesses.

Beginning July 24, 2023, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has updated our procedures for the interim Director Review (DR) of Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) decisions. Updates to the interim DR process include:

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The United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) Office of the Chief Economist released the 2022 updates to its Trademark Case Files Dataset and Trademark Assignment Dataset. The Trademark Case Files Dataset contains detailed information on 12.1 million trademark applications filed with or registrations issued by the USPTO between January 1870 and February 2023. The Trademark Assignment Dataset contains 1.29 million trademark assignments, involving 2.28 million unique trademark properties, recorded by the USPTO between March 1952 and January 2023.

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Find all upcoming and past events at https://www.uspto.gov/about-us/events.

Otto Rohwedder received his patent for a “machine for slicing an entire loaf of bread in a single operation” #OTD in 1932. It could slice and package bread to keep it fresh. Refining the machine was a decades-long process, but Rohwedder believed in his vision. The pop-up toaster’s popularity increased demand for his invention, and bakeries nationwide clamored for one of his machines.

From battlefields and bases around the world to the offices of the USPTO, these veterans pledged to continue serving, now to support American innovation. We recognize the value veterans bring to public service – and remain committed to providing employment opportunities to those who served in uniformed branches.

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Today we celebrate 33 years of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Signed into law on July 26, 1990, the ADA prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities. Check out these assistive technology patents that make the workplace and daily life more accessible

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Get ready to create every Thingamajig you can put your mind to. Hosted by the YMCA of Metropolitan Washington, DC - ASO, the Thingamajig Science Fair & Engineering Expo gives kids an immersive, hands-on experience with science and engineering activities. We're excited to host this free event at USPTO headquarters!

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“IP is a key democratizer,” said Director Kathi Vidal at a recent meeting of the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA)’s National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NACIE), which she co-chairs. “Every place we are developing talent and innovation, we must develop IP competence.”

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