[Patentpractice] Welcome Letter actually useful?

[Scott Nielson]

The image standard was originally set by WIPO. The problem isn't so much the standard, but the dithering algorithm the USPTO uses to convert the images into 1-bit monochrome images. The USPTO uses a bottom of the barrel, trash algorithm. In contrast, PDF-XChange uses a very good, top notch algorithm.

Also, the requirement to use the TIFF compression algorithm should be replaced with something more modern such as JBIG 2. I use JBIG 2 for all black and white documents and it significantly reduces the file sizes.


Scott Nielson

801-660-4400

________________________________
From: Patentpractice <patentpractice-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com> on behalf of steve--- via Patentpractice <patentpractice at oppedahl-lists.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 9, 2025 12:41 PM
To: 'For patent practitioners. This is not for laypersons to seek legal advice.' <patentpractice at oppedahl-lists.com>
Cc: steve at hoffberglaw.com <steve at hoffberglaw.com>
Subject: Re: [Patentpractice] Welcome Letter actually useful?


I have specifically noted to EBC and Director that there are other documents (e.g., receipts) regularly added to the IFW by the USPTO that are also (originally) color or half-toned, and result in illegible text or garbled and inefficiently compressed images.  I made note that this problem particularly extends to NPL references, where the native file is mutilated by the conversion process.  (This issue arose because an Examiner cited an 805 page book, leading to a single file greater than the 100 MB limit, which could not be downloaded through PatentCenter).



I suggested that the entire morass evolved from a decision in the early and mid-1990s to adopt a TIFF-4 based PDF wrapper for scanned pages, supporting PDF-A, in order to be backward compatible with then-legacy systems.  (Who exactly is firing up an abacus from 1993 to handle IFWs?).  This also results in ballooning of NPL references, in some cases 100-fold, when converting from their native format to PFD-A.  I recommended reconsideration of the entire process, especially given the IFW-unsupported “mandatory” docx filing.



Maybe the next Director will be more interested in improving the process than community outreach.



Very truly yours,



Steven M. Hoffberg

Hoffberg & Associates

29  Buckout Road

West Harrison, NY 10604

(914) 949-2300 tel

(845) 625-2547 fax

steve at hoffberglaw.com<mailto:steve at hoffberglaw.com>

https://www.linkedin.com/in/hoffberg/



Emails and attachments received from us may be confidential and/or protected by the attorney-client privilege, as attorney work-product or based on other privileges or provisions of law. If you are not designated as an intended recipient of this email, do not read, copy, use, forward or disclose the email or any of its attachments to others. Instead, immediately notify the sender by replying to this email and then delete it from your system. We strictly prohibit any unauthorized disclosure, copying, distribution or use of emails or attachments sent by us to other than the intended recipient. This communication does not create any legal obligations on behalf of the sender, unless executed in a manner indicating an intent to be bound.



From: Patentpractice <patentpractice-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com> On Behalf Of Jeffrey Semprebon via Patentpractice
Sent: Thursday, January 9, 2025 6:50 AM
To: For patent practitioners. This is not for laypersons to seek legal advice. <patentpractice at oppedahl-lists.com>
Cc: Jeffrey Semprebon <jesemprebon at gmail.com>
Subject: [Patentpractice] Welcome Letter actually useful?



While forwarding a filing receipt and welcome letter to a client, I noted that while the filing receipt is razor sharp, the welcome letter (the version from IFW, signed by both Dir. Vidal and Dep. Brent rather than the downloadable one from the top of the Documents tab in color and signed only by Acting Dir. Brent) has the horrible pixelated half-tone typical of image files (drawings, Declarations, etc.) uploaded and processed.

It occurs to me that the Welcome Letter may have an unintentional value as an example to warn Applicants of the sort of image degradation that image files are likely to suffer when processed to get them into IFW; apparently even the USPTO's own documents are not always spared in whatever processing.



-Jeff

Jeffrey E. Semprebon
Registered Patent Agent (mechanical) looking for remote work

jesemprebon at gmail.com<mailto:jesemprebon at gmail.com>
72 Myrtle Street
Claremont, New Hampshire 03743
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://oppedahl-lists.com/pipermail/patentpractice_oppedahl-lists.com/attachments/20250109/705cdffa/attachment.html>