Patently-O Bits and Bytes No. 308

• Microsoft has released a patch which it believes brings Word 2007 within compliance of the permanent injunction order issued by the court in i4i v. Microsoft.  The patch is “required for the United States” and blocks updated versions of Word from reading “the Custom XML elements contained within DOCX, DOCM, or XML files.” According to the documentation, the DOCX files will continue to open, but any “Custom XML elements will be removed.” The documentation concludes that such custom XML elements are “not typically used by most end users of Word.” [LINK][About i4i v. Microsoft]
• I recently ran across a blog by Franklin Pierce Law Student Trent Ostler: A Budding Patent Lawyer’s Perspective.
• BPAI Rules: The USPTO is reconsidering new BPAI briefing rules. I will post more on this in the coming days. Of immediate importance to practitioners is the notice that as of mid-January, all briefs must comply with rules now-in-place.  (This ends a probationary period where the BPAI accepted briefs filed under the not-yet-effective new rules.)
• BPAI Rules: Find them at 74 FR 67987 [File Attachment: E9-30402.pdf (233 KB)] 
• In a December 16, 2009 statement, Rep. John Conyers made a statement on the House Floor in “gratitude for the service of George C. Elliott.”  Elliott spent two years (2007 and 2009) with the Judiciary Committee but is now returning to the USPTO as co-director of TC 1600.