THE U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) seems to be working for famous criminals like Bill Gates et al while 'dissing' actual judges (e.g. looking for tricks to overcome 35 U.S.C. ۤ 101 caselaw). It's starting to remind us of what happens in Europe, where Microsoft bribed a lot of people to rig ISO in Switzerland.

"So the USPTO isn't just looking to penalise people who aren't Microsoft customers; now it's actively advertising OOXML instead of something FOSS-friendly such as OpenDocument Format (ODF) or even PDF."As we noted here before, the USPTO now considers penalising people for not using Microsoft products/formats. It's almost as if the Office works for Microsoft to reward it for corruption and it's no laughing matter. Dennis Crouch has quoted the USPTO: "Join us for a seminar on filing DOCX, which is structured text. The DOCX Information Sessions will start Wednesday, November 13 from 2-3 p.m. ET. We will discuss DOCX as an efficient way to file a patent application electronically. You’ll learn what the DOCX format is, how you can use it to file nonprovisional utility applications, and the benefits it provides to you and your patent applications."

Donald Zuhn has also just mentioned that: "In a Patent Alert e-mail distributed today, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that it will be offering several seminars on how to use DOCX for EFS-Web filings and on PAIR. The DOCX Information Sessions will focus on the advantages of filing patent applications using structured text (DOCX)."

So the USPTO isn't just looking to penalise people who aren't Microsoft customers; now it's actively advertising OOXML instead of something FOSS-friendly such as OpenDocument Format (ODF) or even PDF. This is an ongoing problem which we will likely revisit if (or when) the USPTO makes these penalties official. ⬆