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Highlights from March 2025 |
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Anna Keichline, the first woman registered as an architect in Pennsylvania, inspired generations of women in the architecture world through her inventions and philosophy of efficiency and economy in construction. Keichline's great niece, Nancy J. Perkins, continues the family legacy of innovation through her work as an industrial designer and patent holder. (Graphic by Gabriella McNevin-Melendez/USPTO. Source materials courtesy of Nancy J. Perkins, FIDSA.) |
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Building a legacy brick by brick
“I think this is something you should have.”
Weighing approximately two pounds, the clay object is shaped like the Roman numeral “two” with holes punched evenly along the top and bottom. The interior, exposed on either end, reveals thin layers of material in a transverse web formation.
Handed to then 37-year-old Nancy Perkins by her aunt Sally during a family function in the 1980s, the “something” was a brick, but not just any brick.
Treasured by the family for more than six decades, this brick was the invention of Perkins’s great aunt, architect Anna Keichline. The innovation was the epitome of Keichline’s philosophy of efficiency and economy — its lightweight design required less materials to make, was quicker to fire, and its features provided versatility when building hollow walls — two principles that would revolutionize the construction industry.
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The Patents Dashboard provides important data on USPTO patent operations. Access refined pendency information, as well as other critical indicators such as the number of applications in the backlog, production, staffing, and more. |
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Updated Patents Dashboard
March 7, 2025
Based on public feedback, we have improved and redesigned the Patents Dashboard to include more data on patent filings. The new data includes statistics about total patent application inventory, 10-year filing trends, and examiner hiring and attrition. Additional updates, such as statistics related to the USPTO’s fraud mitigation efforts, will be added soon.
View the Patent Dashboard
USPTO issues new interim process concerning institution of AIA proceedings
March 26, 2025
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is issuing a new Interim Process for Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) Workload Management concerning institution of AIA proceedings.
Under this new interim process, decisions on whether to institute an inter partes review (IPR) or a post-grant review (PGR) will be bifurcated between (i) discretionary considerations, and (ii) merits and other statutory considerations.
Read full alert
USPTO launches security-enhancing identity verification process for Patent Center users
March 27, 2025
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is introducing the modern identity verification platform called ID.me to Patent Center users. Our goals in implementing this platform are to further simplify the application process, create efficiencies, and bolster enforcement against outside threats.
Read the full news brief
Check out the latest USPTO news and updates.
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A color can’t be claimed as an all-encompassing mark to be used on any product – it must be registered for specific classes of goods or services. Also, it must be claimed as a feature of the mark in the mark’s description. To claim a color in a trademark application, innovators must demonstrate distinctiveness and non-functionality of the color. View original post on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. |
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 Want to see a really old phantoscope? OK, we couldn’t get our hands on an actual phantoscope, but we did find the 1825 patent in an old patent gazette stored in the Public Search Facility at the USPTO headquarters. The “motion picture projecting box,” as its dubbed, was patented by Charles Jenkins 130 years ago today.
The device focused on mechanical movements, and illuminated pictures successively before the preceding picture had faded.
View original post on Instagram
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 Happy #OpeningDay! Patents for baseball mitts have been issued for more than 100 years, including one from 1908 worn by Babe Ruth! It mitigated tearing between the fingers caused by strain. The patent number – 881,315 – is prominent on a glove autographed by Ruth.
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 Mario arrived in the United States in the 1980s, bringing people along journeys to rescue a princess by defeating enemies and solving puzzles.
And now 40 years later, Nintendo of America's Mario character has expanded his mark from the original video game to dozens of trademarks for apparel, pet collars, movies and more. He’s even featured in a drawing for Nintendo’s patent for its three-dimensional image processing system with enhanced character control.
View original post on Facebook
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 Protecting intellectual property is all that and a ... tube of chips!
On this day in 1970, Fredric Baur and Harold Hawley patented packaging of chip-type snack food products when they were working for Proctor & Gamble. The patented packaging was used for Pringles, which is seen in trademark specimens from 1988.
View original post on LinkedIn
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