RSS at the USPTO: Even a Blind Squirrel...

Down here in the South we have a fondness for “sayings” – “Fast as a duck on a june bug” and so forth.  One of my favorites, however, is “Even a blind squirrel will find a nut once in awhile.” 

Unfortunately, that saying just doesn’t hold true for the United States Patent and Trademark Office.  The Rethink(IP) team (me, Matt, and Steve) just didn’t think it was right that the USPTO only provided official news and notices via a clunky and antiquated website. 

We ranted…. we pleaded… finally, we just acted.

So – this morning we launched the first ever RSS feeds for all the USPTO official news and notices.  As per the Rethink(IP) site:

Today we launch the following four RSS feeds that mimic the categories used by the Office:
 
Official Gazette and Federal Register Announcements (feed:   http://feeds.feedburner.com/RethinkIP_USPTO_OG )
General news items  (feed:   http://feeds.feedburner.com/RethinkIP_USPTO_GEN )
Patent news items  (feed:  http://feeds.feedburner.com/RethinkIP_USPTO_PAT )
Trademark news items  (feed:  http://feeds.feedburner.com/RethinkIP_USPTO_TM )
 
A fifth feed includes ALL items for each of the four categories listed above  (feed:  http://feeds.feedburner.com/RethinkIP_USPTO_ALL )
 
Go ahead and subscribe.  Who knows, you might find yourself actually reading PTO news and notices on a regular basis!

We believe this Rethink(ip) project is a great example of a practical application of RSS technology and we hope it will expand the use of RSS throughout the IP community.  We also hope it will grab the attention of decision-makers at the PTO and encourage them to take a serious look at RSS.

Go on over and have a look, subscribe to a feed… learn more… and more importantly, to the USPTO, please don’t continue to be a blind squirrel.