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 Sarah Fendrick — Last fall, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office implemented a procedure that allowed small entities to have an application accorded special status examination if the applicant expressly abandoned another co-pending unexamined application (see "USPTO Implements Patent Application Backlog Reduction Stimulus Plan"). In a notice published in the Federal Register (75 Fed.…
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By Kevin E. Noonan — The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has acted promptly to comply with Judge Claude Hilton's Order earlier this week that the Office accept The Medicines Company (MDCO) Patent Term Extension Request for U.S. Patent No. 5,196,404, by granting the patent an interim patent term extension. In responding to the Order,…
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By Sydney Kokjohn — Last week, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office celebrated the one-year anniversary of its e-Office Action (e-OA) program. So far, the program has electronically notified patent applicants on more than 850,000 Office communications and reduced Patent Office paper usage by more than 9.2 million pages. A pilot version of the…
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By Donald Zuhn — Last week, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a notice in the Federal Register (75 Fed. Reg. 42079) to clarify how the Office will treat certain letters submitted by applicants and patentees regarding the Office's patent term adjustment (PTA) determinations. In particular, the notice addresses situations in which an…
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By Sarah Fendrick — The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently published a notice in the Federal Register (75 Fed. Reg. 29321) announcing that the Office will streamline procedures for the review of appeal briefs in ex parte reexamination proceeding appeals. The new procedures were implemented in an effort to increase the efficiency of…
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By Donald Zuhn — In a notice published in the Federal Register earlier this month (75 Fed. Reg. 39493), the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that its draft strategic plan for FY 2010–2015 has been made available for public review and comment. The Office notes that the plan is a revision of the…
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By Sydney Kokjohn — On June 28, 2010, the Acting Commissioner For Patent Examination Policy, Robert W. Bahr, issued a memorandum to USPTO examiners regarding the Supreme Court's recent Bilski v. Kappos decision. Commissioner Bahr summarized the decision, noting that the Court: (1) confirmed that 35 U.S.C. § 101 specifies four categories of inventions: …
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By Sydney Kokjohn — In a press release issued June 2, 2010, Under Secretary of Commerce and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office David Kappos announced that the USPTO would work with Google to make bulk electronic patent and trademark data available to the public at no cost. This data can be…
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By Donald Zuhn — Last week, Novartis AG and Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, Inc. filed a complaint against U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director David Kappos, seeking review of the Office's patent term adjustment (PTA) determinations for eleven Novartis patents (see "Court Report," July 11, 2010). The eleven patents specified in the complaint are…
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By Sarah Fendrick — Last month, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a notice in the Federal Register (75 Fed. Reg. 30773) indicating that it is seeking comments on the collection of information through the use of applicant surveys. The USPTO collects information from the applicant community through surveys to forecast the number…
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