Happy Fall! The law firm celebrates a lot of firsts this season. We represent some incredible artists and creatives. Since we last wrote, several clients received their first registrations. Congratulations to Samantha for her first two copyrights in fiber art sculptures, and to Alyssa for copyrighting her two murals. Oskar got his first trademark, for drinkable yogurts. Alexandra, Kevin, Jason and Robert got their first trademark too, for online retail store services. Hats off to Craig, for his first trademark, too. Ricardo got his first trademark, for magic performance and theater services. Dorota scored her second trademark registration, protecting her construction toy software. Chris locked down his diamond and jewelry making business, with his second registered trademark.

Noel will receive his first patent, for a bracket design, on October 3. Ed is on track to receive his first patent too, for a shoe drying rack that can fit inside a dryer drum. Not to be outdone, Gerald is on track to receive his eighth patent.

Are you looking to file your first patent application? The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office now offers, for a limited time, free expedited patent examination for first time applicants who meet certain income requirements? The First-Time Filer Expedited Examination Pilot program is limited to the first 1,000 applicants, and will run through March 11, 2024, whichever occurs first. This program “expedites the first Office action, which expands opportunity in innovation. By lowering time-based barriers for inventors who might otherwise be unable to participate in the patent system, this initiative will enable them to bring their innovations to impact more rapidly.” Read more about the program at this link. If you think you might be a candidate, call me right away.

We are grateful for the opportunity to represent all of our clients, to do honest work for them every day so they can focus on building their businesses. We could not do this without the able and dedicated support of Global Patent Solutions, my U.S. based patent search team, and Straight Line Services patent illustrations.