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August 12, 2004
Electronic Filing
Well last night I put on a pot of coffee and filed my first application electronically. I followed Carl Oppedahl's instructions pretty much down the line.
After finishing the application in MS Word, I used PCT-SAFE to create the document, then EPAVE to package it all up and send it.
The application was for an invention I had after watching too much television a couple weeks ago and relates to enhancements to video, particularly useful for police helicopter video.
The cool thing about filing electronically is that you get a serial number right away. My application is not currently viewable through Private PAIR, though. I would really like to see it on the PTO website so I know it all went smoothly.
I had elected early publication of the application, and I was hoping that electronic filing will speed that up. Time will tell.
Update: I did have a small hiccup in the filing because I used PDF images rather than TIFF. Thankfully, the very courtious and helpful staff at the PTO called me and alerted me about it, allowing me to fax in my figures in the afternoon and keep my filing date.
The PTO will be releasing a new piece of software called ABX that is in beta test right now. ABX will be available in the next couple months, and the new ABX is supposed to be better than the beta ABX which has not had the best of reviews.
One way I was burned was that I hit 'Send' at 10:28pm, Mountain Time, which was 12:28am the next day in Washington. I still had an hour and a half to run my application down to the post office and still get the same day's filing date.
Posted by krajec at August 12, 2004 10:53 AM
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