Vint Cerf at the Patent Office

On Thursday, Vint Cerf, the co-inventor of the TCP/IP protocol, visited the US Patent and Trademark Office, where Director Andrei Iancu interviewed him before a crowd in the Clara Barton auditorium; other personnel, including myself, watched and listened from their desks via livestreaming. Mr. Cerf had a number of things to say; one point that struck me is that his protocol won out against competing standards because it was flexible. As he put it, “We set maximum heights, lengths, and widths for cars on the highway. We didn’t say whether they should have one wheel, two wheels, or eighteen, and we didn’t plan just what buildings should go beside the exit ramps.” (That’s approximate, not an exact quote, but he did use that metaphor.)

The Red Queen’s Race

This week, three cases appeared on my Expedited docket, and one amendment appeared on my Amended docket. Of the three Expedited cases, two were After Final amendments, and one was a new Information Disclosure Statement for me to consider in an allowed case. I dealt with all three of the new Expedited cases, and with the Expedited case that I already had. I also managed to hash things out with the attorney, and do an Allowance on the regular Amended case that I already had, so I’m down to one amendment on my Amended docket.

I have been working on my oldest Regular New case, which I hope to finish by 3:00 PM Tuesday, although with other things keeping me busy, I have not made as much progress on it as I would like.