Monthly Minute | Design Patents
Effective July 31, 2024, large accelerated filers must submit fee data in Inline XBRL format in registration statements, fee bearing proxies and tenders offers, with all other filers phased in beginning July 31, 2025....more
On April 1 , 2024, USCIS announced that it received enough electronic registrations during the initial registration period to reach the fiscal year (FY) 2025 H-1B cap. A random selection (lottery) was conducted from the...more
On June 30, 2023, the Indiana Department of Financial Institutions published Advisory Letter 2023-01, addressing the permissibility of e-lien fees not payable to the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles. The publication was...more
Inventors prize their bound hardcopy patents for both sentimental reasons and because the hardcopy can be useful in negotiation. The USPTO only issues one original “Letters Patent.” If a patent is lost or destroyed, the best...more
After centuries of issuing paper patents to inventors, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will soon transition to only electronic issuance, with patent holders able to receive a printed “ceremonial” copy to display proudly...more
The USPTO has published the final rule in the Federal Register establishing fee increases for electronic filings related to Trademark applications and proceedings. The changes, which go into effect on January 2, 2021, are...more
On September 30, 2020 the President signed the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2021 and Other Extensions Act, to fund the U.S. government through December 11, 2020. The Act also addresses USCIS revenue shortfalls and the need...more
On August 3, 2020, USCIS published a final rule that will increase filing fees for certain petitions and applications to help recover its operational costs. The final rule goes into effect on October 2, 2020, and any...more
As we’ve previously explained, some big changes are coming this year to the H-1B visa process. Employers use H-1B visas to temporarily employ workers in “specialty occupations” – generally, jobs that require a bachelor’s...more
On January 31, 2019, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a final rule making significant changes to the H-1B CAP lottery process. This rule added an electronic registration requirement for employers...more
In May 2018, the U.S. Government Accountability Office implemented a $350 filing fee for bid protests. There are differences of opinion regarding why the GAO implemented the fee. The GAO publicly states that the fee was...more
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has released its spring 2019 regulatory agenda, highlighting the agency’s rulemaking priorities through 2019. While many of the agenda items appear to be carryovers from agendas past,...more
One of the many concerns raised by the recent outage of the USPTO’s electronic filing system was the requirement to pay the surcharge due when a new U.S. application is not filed electronically. The surcharge is statutory...more
Many of you are aware of the Government Accountability Office’s (“GAO’s”) new bid protest regulations; this is a reminder that they went into effect today, May 1, and include several significant changes. ...more
In early April, the GAO issued a final rule revising the existing bid protest process—the major revisions being the introduction of an Electronic Protest Docketing System (EPDS) and a protest filing fee. When the rule takes...more
The US Government Accountability Office published a final rule effective May 1, 2018, implementing highly anticipated changes to its bid protest regulations. The two most significant regulatory amendments (a) implement GAO's...more
Beginning May 1, 2018, all bid protests (except protests containing classified material) must be filed electronically through the Government Accountability Office’s new Electronic Protest Docketing System (EPDS). Along with...more
Starting May 1, 2018, the General Accounting Office (GAO) will require that all new protests (except those containing classified information) be filed using its web-based electronic filing system known as the Electronic...more
Electronic filing of bid protests and the $350 filing fee are finally here. On Monday, April 2, 2018, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a final rule implementing two key changes to the bid protest...more
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) will cut the ribbon on its Electronic Protest Docketing System (EPDS) on May 1, 2018, according to a final rule published Monday (at 83 Fed. Reg. 13817). The electronic filing...more
New final rule implements electronic filing system and other key changes. GAO has implemented a formal electronic filing system and imposed a one-time, nominal filing fee. ...more
The GAO released its final rule implementing new regulations covering bid protests under its jurisdiction. In a previous blog post, we analyzed the proposed rules. The new regulations make changes consistent with the...more
Effective January 14, 2017, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) adjusted a number of its trademark processing and service fees, including increasing fees for 42 different trademark filings. The trademark office, which...more
SEC/CORPORATE - SEC Increases Registration Statement Filing Fees for Fiscal Year 2017 - On August 31, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that, effective October 1, the fees that public companies and...more
Dear Mr. Kang: We are writing to submit comments on the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s (“GAO”) proposed rule, issued April 15, 2016, 81 Fed. Reg. 22,197. Our firm represents small businesses operating across...more