US Patent Office to take only DOCX in future – or PDFs if you pay extra
- Reference: 1622075612
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/05/27/uspto_pdf_charge/
- Source link:
“At the USPTO, we are continuously working to modernize and streamline our patent application systems,” the agency [1]announced this week. “To improve application quality and efficiency, the USPTO will be transitioning to DOCX for all filers on January 1, 2022.”
The office said it decided to make the change years ago in an attempt to streamline the patent examining process. [2]DOCX , otherwise known as Office Open XML, is standardized as [3]ECMA-376 and [4]ISO/IEC 29500 . Though it was [5]created by Microsoft for its own products, such as Word, the file format is supported by LibreOffice, OpenOffice, Google Docs, and others. And though the Windows giant has sworn it won't sue over licensing and patents regarding DOCX, there are some [6]caveats .
[7]
[8]
The XML nature of the format, we're told, makes it easier for the patent office's internal systems to automatically extract and process the content of text, tables, graphs, and schematics. PDFs, meanwhile, are more of a pain for machines to grok, and worst-case rely on character recognition techniques to scrape the text into an easier format.
[9]Intel, Apple, Cisco, Google sue US Patent Office – Tech police, open up!
[10]Third time's a harm? Microsoft tries to get twice-rejected compression patent past skeptical examiners
[11]Face-PALM: US Patent and Trademark Office database down for 5 days and counting
[12]USPTO: Hi, Ask Me Anything. Reddit: Can we trademark 'AMA'? USPTO: No.
Converting between the two is even more of a pain for the agency. All sorts of mistakes can be introduced, like font errors, or issues with formatting. To prevent all of these problems, the USPTO has decided to encourage the end of PDF submissions altogether. Those who try to sneak in a non-DOCX formatted file will be subjected to a “surcharge fee” on top of the cost applicants usually pay to file for a patent.
The fee will depend on the size of the business or organization filling out the forms: it will cost $400 for large entities, and $200, and $100 for small and micro ones, [13]according to a report outlining the charges (see table 8).
It may sound easy, though submitting forms to Uncle Sam typically is a bit of a nightmare, and the USPTO said it will host training sessions to show people how to prepare, send over, and handle DOCX files with its systems.
“We look forward to continuing our engagement with the public on the DOCX transition so we can better serve America’s innovation community,” it concluded. ®
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[1] https://www.uspto.gov/blog/director/entry/modernizing-patent-filing-with-docx
[2] https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx
[3] https://www.ecma-international.org/publications-and-standards/standards/ecma-376/
[4] https://www.iso.org/standard/71691.html
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2005/06/03/office_xml/
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Open_XML#Licensing
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YK8ZW5UGtVYCE-@cWt3IKwAAANA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/applications&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YK8ZW5UGtVYCE-@cWt3IKwAAANA&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2020/09/02/intel_us_patents/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/13/microsoft_ans_patent/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2018/08/20/uspto_database_issue/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2016/12/16/reddit_ask_me_anything_trademark/
[13] https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/08/03/2020-16559/setting-and-adjusting-patent-fees-during-fiscal-year-2020
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
You want interoperability?
Plain. Fekkin. Text.
No special fonts, no colours, no special characters that get mangled by OCR, It. Just. Works.
"You don't have to use MS Office to produce it, you can use..."
Stop. I don't care what format(s) you use internally or for archiving, but the applicant submissions should be in plain text. No obfuscation, no bullshit buzzword bingo, no "on a computer", just plain text attached to a physical working prototype to prove you can actually *make* what your brain shits out. If you can't build the prototype, you obviously don't know the subject well enough to deserve a patent on it, now do you?
"Why should I need to prototype a software patent application?"
You shouldn't, because software should not be patentable. Copyrightable yes, patentable no. It's that whole "on a computer" bit. If it's on a computer then fek off.
Plain. Damned. Text... It. Just. Works.
How well does DOCX work with non-Microsoft tools?
Also, why not ODF? Maybe I'm out of the loop, but I seem to remember OOXML being less open than ODF.
USPTO
It should be shut down, blown up, and reinvented as the "USDoSE".
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT of SHIT ENGINEERING
The best idea always wins. SGML was the best idea, XML only its native son. PDF, once a clever ps extension, is the dirty old money making tat its inventors always meant it to be. Short term America at its greediest. I speak from what I know tell ya.