The Red Queen’s Race

This week, I got two regular amendments on my Amended docket, and one After Final amendment on my Expedited docket. I dealt with the Expedited case and with one of the regular amendments, and I’ve been working on an Office Action on the other amendment, but I’m not finished yet, so I’m up to one amendment.

I finished a first action on a Regular New case earlier this week.

I also dealt with a First Action Interview case. The Patent Office has had a pilot program (which I think is now being ended) where people can request First Action Interviews. That means that the examiner doesn’t write up a full Office Action; instead, he fills out a Pre-Interview form adumbrating how he would reject the claims (or not) in light of the prior art. Then the patent attorney can arrange an interview (usually in the form of a telephone discussion), and can also amend the claims, or otherwise respond. The examiner then usually sends the patent attorney a First Action Interview form, further describing how a full Office Action would read, unless he can just allow the case. The attorney may then further amend the claims, etc., which can lead to a full Office Action rejecting or allowing the application.

The week before this, the attorney for this particular case filed something responding to my Pre-Interview form last month, and requested an interview, which we held on Thursday. I won’t say just what that led to, but I did something, which I considered appropriate under the circumstances.

So anyway, it’s been a pretty productive week.

Right Hip

I remember, when I went to the doctor two weeks ago, she asked whether I experienced joint pain, and I said no. More recently, my right hip joint has been bothering me, especially today. I’m not seventeen years old any more.

I took an aspirin, and hope that the problem will subside on its own. If it doesn’t, I’ll seek medical attention.

Critical Race Theory

I have had some thoughts about Critical Race Theory. For one thing, I believe that the term is something of a variable constant: on the Left, people can insist that whatever is going on in K-12 schools, some of which is genuinely objectionable, isn’t CRT, because that is only a subject of discussion in law schools and graduate seminars; on the Right, people can denounce anything they disapprove of, including accurate teaching about slavery and Jim Crow in history classes, as CRT.

Mona Charen has written a better column on the subject than I could.