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 Donald Zuhn — Yesterday, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and European Patent Office announced the launch of a new website regarding the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) initiative. The CPC project seeks to combine the best classification practices of both the U.S. and European systems with the aim of developing a joint IPC based…
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By Donald Zuhn — Last week, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that it had met or exceeded all of its goals for fiscal year 2011 (FY2011). The most significant goal to be met on the patent side was the reduction of unexamined patent applications to 669,625, which constituted a five-year low and represented…
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By Donald Zuhn — Since implementing its first Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) program with the Japan Patent Office (JPO) on July 3, 2006, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has established a total of nineteen PPH programs with other patent offices. Currently the USPTO has PPH programs (full or pilot) in place with the Japan…
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By Donald Zuhn — On Friday, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that it was seeking comments with regard to two studies it must conduct under the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA). The studies, on the operation of prior user rights in selected countries in the industrialized world and international patent protection for small…
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By Donald Zuhn — For the past few weeks, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has been busy implementing changes brought about by the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (see "USPTO Implements AIA Changes to Inter Partes Reexamination"; "USPTO Updates Fee Schedule, But Does Not Yet Offer Micro Entity Discount"; "USPTO Implements Prioritized Examination Track under…
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By Donald Zuhn — The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office continues the process of implementing the many changes to U.S. patent law brought about by the enactment of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) on September 16. In one of its more recent steps, the Office issued a notice in the Federal Register (76 Fed.…
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By Donald Zuhn — In anticipation of yesterday's implementation of the 15% surcharge on certain patent fees pursuant to § 11 of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a press release and Federal Register notice (76 Fed. Reg. 59115) last week regarding the patent fees changes. In the Federal…
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By Donald Zuhn — Five months after postponing the launch date of the prioritized examination (or Track I) portion of the Enhanced Examination Timing Control Procedures Initiative, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced on Friday that it would begin accepting requests for prioritized examination today. The program was postponed in April due to "funding…
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By Donald Zuhn — USPTO Planning to Review Existing Rules In a notice published in the Federal Register (76 Fed. Reg. 39797) earlier this summer, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office indicated that it has prepared a preliminary plan to review its existing regulations in response to Executive Order 13563. That Order, which was issued…
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By Kevin E. Noonan — The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a notice in the Federal Register today (76 Fed. Reg. 43631) proposing to change the Office's definition of materiality in Rule 56 and Rule 555(b) to be consistent with the materiality standard enunciated by the Federal Circuit in Therasense, Inc. v. Becton, Dickinson…
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