Patent Law Weblog
recent posts
- Mexico Publishes Amendments to Intellectual Property Law
- PTAB (Again) Awards Priority of Invention to Broad in Interference No. 106,115
- Argentina Repeals Pharmaceutical Patent Examination Guidelines
- USPTO Moves to Protect Design Rights for Digital Innovations
- Judicial Conduct and Disability Committee Has Its Say, Denies Judge Newman’s Latest Request for Review
about
Category: Patent Office Rules & Procedures
-
Acting Director Teresa Stanek Rea (at right) sent the following memo to USPTO employees regarding the possibility that the government will be shut down if Congress fails to agree to a continuing resolution to fund government agencies for the rest of this year: Dear Colleagues, As you know, the Obama administration is working diligently with…
-
By Donald Zuhn — A white paper authored by two members of the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) U.S. Patent Office Practice Committee argues that the current patent examination system "has run its course," and needs to be changed. In its place, the paper proposes a revised examination system that would "offer[] a break from…
-
By Donald Zuhn — USPTO Implements PPH 2.0 Programs with NRIP and DKPTO On September 12, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced the implementation of a Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) 2.0 program with the Nicaraguan Registry of Intellectual Property (NRIP). On May 1, the USPTO also announced the implementation of a PPH 2.0 program…
-
By Kevin E. Noonan — Acting Director Teresa Stanek Rea (at right) has notified her colleagues that she will be leaving the agency "in the near future." The text of her announcement reads as follows: Dear Colleagues, It has been a tremendous honor and a true pleasure to serve with you as Deputy Director and…
-
By Donald Zuhn — At last month's Patent Public Advisory Committee (PPAC) meeting, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office provided a progress update on the RCE Outreach program that was initiated last December with the Office's request for comments on RCE practice (see "USPTO Seeks Public Feedback on RCE Practice"). The Office subsequently extended the…
-
By Donald Zuhn — At the end of June, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office filed its reply brief with the Federal Circuit in Exelixis, Inc. v. Rea. The appeal involves two decisions by the Eastern District of Virginia involving the impact of a Request for Continued Examination (RCE) on the calculation of patent term adjustment…
-
By Donald Zuhn — On the same day that the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a one-page memorandum to its Patent Examining Corps to provide preliminary guidance on the decision. The memo from Andrew Hirshfeld, the Deputy Commissioner for…
-
By Donald Zuhn — In April, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a notice in the Federal Register (78 Fed. Reg. 21788) proposing changes to the rules of practice for consistency with the Patent Law Treaty (PLT) and title II of the Patent Law Treaties Implementation Act of 2012 (PLTIA), which amends the Title…
-
By Donald Zuhn — USPTO Modifies After Final Consideration Pilot Program Earlier this month, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a notice in the Federal Register (78 Fed. Reg. 29117) regarding modifications to the After Final Consideration Pilot Program (AFCP). The AFCP, which was implemented in April 2012, provides examiners with a limited amount…
-
By Andrew Williams — The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO") published its final rule in the April 3, 2013 Federal Register (78 Fed. Reg. 20180) in preparation for adopting new USPTO Rules of Professional Conduct ("USPTO Rules"). As we reported previously when the proposed rules were announced (see "USPTO Proposes Update to Code of…
Patent Docs 