Patent Law Weblog
recent posts
- Reasons for the PTAB’s Priority Determination in Broad’s Favor (Perhaps)
- 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
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Category: Patent Office Rules & Procedures
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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 Donald Zuhn — Impact of Hurricane Sandy on USPTO Operations On November 2, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a notice that in view of the official closing of Federal Government offices in the Washington, D.C. area on October 29 and 30, 2012 as a result of Hurricane Sandy, the Office would consider…
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Court Overrules PTO Interpretation of B-Delay Calculation By Kevin E. Noonan — Judge T.S. Ellis III of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia wrote the latest chapter in the story of judicial review of (and, generally, disagreement with) how the Office has interpreted the patent term adjustment provisions of the 1999…
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By Andrew Williams — Last month, on October 18, 2012, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a notice of proposed rulemaking (77 Fed. Reg. 64190) to finally update its rules of professional conduct by conforming them to the ABA Model Rule of Professional Conduct. The ABA Model Rules have been adopted in some form…
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By Donald Zuhn — USPTO Proposes Update to Code of Professional Responsibility Earlier this month, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced its proposal to update the USPTO Code of Professional Responsibility to conform to the Model Rules of Professional Conduct of the American Bar Association (ABA). The Office's notice of proposed rulemaking, entitled "Changes…
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By Donald Zuhn — Last month, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and European Patent Office announced the publication of an advanced version of the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) scheme and some final CPC definitions ahead of the CPC's official launch on January 1, 2013. The CPC is a detailed classification system that includes approximately…
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By Donald Zuhn — Since implementing its first Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) program with the Japan Patent Office (JPO) in 2006, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has established close to forty PPH programs with more than twenty other patent offices. Earlier this month, the USPTO increased the number of PPH programs (full or pilot)…
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By Donald Zuhn — Last month, the Patent Public Advisory Committee (PPAC) issued its report on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's proposal for setting and adjusting patent fees, which the Office laid out in a notice of proposed rulemaking published in the Federal Register on September 6 (see "More on USPTO's Proposed New Fees"). In…
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By Donald Zuhn — On August 14, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published five notices in the Federal Register providing final rules packages for implementing various provisions of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act. Among the final rules packages was one for implementing the inventor's oath or declaration provisions of the AIA ("Changes To Implement…
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ArQule, Inc. v. Kappos, 793 F. Supp. 2d 214 (D.D.C. 2011) By Sherri Oslick — A few years ago we had provided some cautionary advice relating to the dichotomy between a timely filed response in accordance with 35 U.S.C. § 21(b), and a delayed response pursuant to 37 C.F.R. § 1.704(b). 35 U.S.C. § 21(b)…
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