News from the US Patent and Trademark Office

USPTO Reorganizes Operational Structure to More Effectively Achieve Goals set out in 2010-2015 Strategic Plan

Creates new Office of the Chief Communications Officer andOffice of Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity reporting to the Under Secretary and Director Patent and Trademark Appeal Boards to report directly to Under Secretary and Director

Washington - Under Secretary of Commerce and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) David Kappos announced today that, effective October 1, the USPTO is reorganizing its operational structure to strengthen the agency’s management, communications and policy functions in accordance with the goals set forth in its 2010-2015 Strategic Plan, the text of which is available on the USPTO Web site and which will be available in final format in the coming weeks.
“We have revised our structure so that we can operate more efficiently, communicate with the public in a more effective and transparent manner, and enhance our ability to achieve our goals,” said Under Secretary Kappos. “These organizational changes will enable us to better achieve our goals of reducing patent pendency and bringing innovation to market sooner, while strengthening the appeal process, promoting a more diverse workplace, and enhancing the Agency’s critical communications and outreach functions.”
The reorganization changes the first-line structure of the organizations reporting to the Office of the Under Secretary and Director by establishing a new Office of the Chief Communications Officer (formerly the Office of Public Affairs within the Under Secretary’s Office) and a new Office of Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity (formerly the Office of Civil Rights within the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer) as separate organizations reporting directly to the Under Secretary and Director and represented on the Agency’s Executive Committee.
It also transfers the reporting of the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, which were formerly part of the Office of General Counsel, to the Office of the Under Secretary. Additional changes involve the Patent Organization - including the addition of an Associate Commissioner for Innovation Development - and the Office of the Administrator for Policy and External Affairs to better align and clarify competencies and functions performed by those organizations. The reorganization will not increase the USPTO’s number of full-time employees or resource requirements, and the agency’s current facilities in Alexandria, Va., will accommodate the reorganization.

News from the Japan Patent Office (JPO)

India adopts the 9th edition of the Nice Classification for trademarks(India)
India has adopted the 9th edition of the International Classification of Goods and Services for trademarks (“Nice Classification”), following an amendment of its Trade Marks Rules dated May 20, 2010.With this amendment, the service classes 43, 44 and 45 have become available for use in the country. Published and registered trademarks may be registered or renewed with their original classes, as reclassification for these trademarks is not mandatory. However, it will be necessary to undertake specific procedures for currently pending trademark applications, such as filing a petition for reclassification into the appropriate class(es) or limiting the scope of the application to the services of class 42.


Spanish Court dismisses claims that YouTube is responsible for infringing content.
A Madrid appeal court dismissed on September 23, 2010 a complaint filed by the Spanish television channel Telecinco, which was claiming that the popular video-sharing website YouTube is responsible for the copyright-infringing content uploaded by its users. The Court pointed out that YouTube offers a tool allowing copyright owners to erase infringing content, and stated that the responsibility to identify infringing contents and inform YouTube accordingly laid with copyright owners.

OKI Data is infringing on Ricoh’s US patent, says ITC in preliminary ruling
An administrative law judge of the US International Trade Commission (ITC) issued on September 23, 2010 a preliminary ruling stating that OKI Data was infringing on one patent owned by Ricoh. Ricoh had previously filed with the ITC a complaint alleging that OKI Data was infringing on five of its patents related to printer technology.