Category: Patent Office Rules & Procedures

By Donald Zuhn — USPTO Declines to Extend Patent Application Backlog Reduction Stimulus Plan In a Federal Register notice published earlier this month (76 Fed. Reg. 77979), the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that it had decided not to extend the Patent Application Backlog Reduction Stimulus Plan, which was implemented in November 2009 (see…

By Donald Zuhn — In a Federal Register notice published last week (76 Fed. Reg. 78246), the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that the Extended Missing Parts Pilot Program that was implemented last year will be extended for another year.  The pilot program "effectively provides a 12-month extension to the existing 12-month provisional application…

By Donald Zuhn — USPTO Updates "Track I" Program On Monday, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that it had issued a final rule, changing the Track I prioritized examination program.  Under the new rule, applicants can request prioritized examination for "any patent application in which a proper request for continued examination (RCE) has…

By Donald Zuhn — USPTO Seeks Comments on Eliciting Assignment Information In a notice published in the Federal Register (76 Fed. Reg. 72372) last month, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that it is considering several changes in assignment practice that are "designed to encourage a more complete record at the USPTO of patent…

By Donald Zuhn — In a Federal Register notice (76 Fed. Reg. 74700) published earlier this month, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that it was revising the rules of practice pertaining to patent term adjustment (PTA) determinations such that applicants would no longer be docked for delays when citing information from a counterpart…

By Donald Zuhn — The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently released its Performance and Accountability Report for Fiscal Year (FY) 2011.  With respect to the Office's performance goals, the report indicates that four of five patent-related performance targets were met in FY 2011.  Among the patent-related performance targets that the Office met were patent…

By Donald Zuhn — EPO, JPO, and USPTO Meet at Annual Trilateral Conference The European Patent Office, Japan Patent Office, and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office gathered last week at the 29th annual Trilateral Conference in St. Germain-en-Laye, France to discuss ways to further harmonize their patent systems.  This year's conference focused on a number…

By Kevin E. Noonan — Commissioner for Patents Robert Stoll and Patent Reform Coordinator Janet Gongola were featured speakers at last week's BIO's Intellectual Property Counsels Committee (BIO IPCC) meeting and both (as expected) focused much of their remarks on the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act.  Insofar as portions of both officials' talks reviewed the provisions…

By Donald Zuhn — Commissioner Stoll to Retire from Government Service On Wednesday, the U.S. Patent and Trademark office announced that Commissioner of Patents Robert Stoll (at right) would be retiring from the agency effective December 31, 2011.  The Office also announced that Director David Kappos will nominate current Deputy Commissioner for Patents Margaret "Peggy"…

By Donald Zuhn — Last week, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced the establishment of a new Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot program with the Norwegian Industrial Property Office (NIPO).  As with other PPH programs, the USPTO-NIPO PPH will permit an applicant having an application whose claims have been allowed in one of the…