Patent Law Weblog
recent posts
- Apple v. Squires: USPTO Director Has Unlimited Discretion on IPR Institution
- The Ghost in the Machine: Why GenAI Can Be Both a Brilliant Researcher and a Terrible Advocate
- Bayer Files Suit Against Trio of COVID-19 Vaccine Makers
- Allen v. Cooper (4th Cir. 2026)
- To Require an Inventor ID, or Not to Require an Inventor ID – That Is the Question
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Category: Patent Legislation
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By Kevin E. Noonan — Rep. Lamar Smith's H.R. 6621 came up for a vote today on the House floor under a suspension of the rules permitting the House to consider and vote upon the measure without debate. In contrast with Rep. Smith's (at right) earlier version of the bill (see "Pre-GATT Patent Applications Threatened…
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By Kevin E. Noonan — Lurking in H.R. 6621, a bill entitled "To correct and improve certain provisions of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act and title 35, United States Code" and introduced on November 30th by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) is a provision that would substantively affect (and effectively eliminate) patent rights for the ~200…
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By Donald Zuhn — In a notice published last week in the Federal Register (77 Fed. Reg. 71170), the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that it was interested in gathering "additional information" on independent second opinion genetic diagnostic testing for purposes of preparing a report on the subject as required by the Leahy-Smith America…
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By Kwame Mensah — On November 6, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office held a live chat on Twitter (@uspto) to discuss some of the provisions of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act. Highlights of the chat were the inventor's oath/declaration provisions, preissuance submissions, supplemental examination, and the first-inventor-to-file (FITF) provision. This chat provided concise and…
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By Kevin E. Noonan — Presumptions (rebuttable or otherwise) are, intentionally, distortions in the law that have the effect of increasing the difficulty of proving a proposition. Their purpose is typically policy-motivated, to indicate a favored outcome that will not prevail only if the basis of the presumption (and the policy behind it) is not…
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By Kevin E. Noonan — Companion bills were introduced in Congress on April 25th of this year with little fanfare (particularly in comparison to the Leahy-Smith American Invents Act) but they have the potential to provide significant funding for university-related start-up companies. The bills, H.R. 4720 and S. 2369, are entitled the "America Innovates Act…
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By James DeGiulio — The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act changed the law on prior user rights ("PUR") in the United States, providing protection for inventors' trade secrets and protection against infringement liability from a later granted patent. This change in the law brings the U.S. closer to harmonization with many other countries with these rights,…
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By Kevin E. Noonan — Janet Gongola, Patent Reform Coordinator at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and manager of all aspects of the agency's implementation of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act has informed Patent Docs that the Office's report on "second opinion" genetic diagnostic testing has been delayed past its nominal deadline date of…
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By Donald Zuhn — As part of its efforts to implement the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a Federal Register notice (77 Fed. Reg. 3748) earlier this year indicating that the Office had begun to collect information on independent second opinion genetic diagnostic testing where patents and exclusive licenses…
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By Kevin E. Noonan — The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act ("AIA") changes U.S. patent law in many ways, notably by converting our patent system to a "first inventor to file" system. However, the language of the new statute is not always "pelucidly clear" in achieving this change; one of the areas of murkiness involves the…
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