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 Sydney Kokjohn — Patent practitioners concerned about patent term adjustment should pay careful attention to 37 C.F.R. § 1.704(b) concerning applicant delay, especially regarding the date of issue fee payments. This section provides that "an applicant shall be deemed to have failed to engage in reasonable efforts to conclude processing or examination of…
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By Kevin E. Noonan — Chief Judge Paul Michel, writing for most of the en banc Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Judge Lourie took no part in the decision), today granted the joint motion of all parties to dismiss the appeal of Tafas v. Kappos. Thus, the infamous "continuation and claims rules"…
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By Christopher P. Singer — PAIR Maintenance The USPTO posted a message on the front page of PAIR announcing that both Public and Private PAIR will be down for maintenance for part of this weekend. The maintenance is expected to begin at 10:00 pm EST on Saturday, November 14th and last until about 11:00…
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By Donald Zuhn — On Tuesday, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that USPTO Director David Kappos (at right) has launched a new blog "to foster a direct dialogue with the USPTO's stakeholders and the general public." The blog, running under the heading "Director's Forum: David Kappos' Public Blog," can be reached through…
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By Christopher P. Singer — On October 27, 2009, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a notice in the Federal Register (74 Fed. Reg. 55212) outlining a new "Patents Ombudsman Pilot Program." The program is intended to provide patent applicants and practitioners with an additional resource for application-specific prosecution issues, particularly when prosecution…
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By Christopher P. Singer — As reported a few weeks ago, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a pre-OG Notice regarding the way it will docket requests for continued examination (RCE) beginning on November 15, 2009. For any RCE that is filed on or after that date, the Office will place that RCE…
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By Donald Zuhn — In a Federal Register notice published on Wednesday (74 Fed. Reg. 54028), the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that it plans to hold a roundtable discussion to "obtain input from diverse sources in the patent community and/or the public sector to evaluate views on work sharing." The roundtable discussion…
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By Donald Zuhn –- On Monday, Counsel for Dr. Triantafyllos Tafas filed a reply to the joint motion to dismiss the appeal in Tafas v. Kappos and for a vacatur of the District Court's injunction and judgment filed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and Appellee GlaxoSmithKline on October 9, 2009. The joint…
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By Donald Zuhn –– Earlier today, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a press release announcing that Director David Kappos had "signed a new Final Rule rescinding highly controversial regulations, proposed by the previous administration, that patent applicants felt unduly restricted their capacity to protect intellectual property" (see "'New Rules' Officially Rescinded"). Not…
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By Kevin E. Noonan — The infamous "claims and continuation" rules promulgated over the vocal protests of patent applicants and the patent bar by the Dudas administration of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office have been officially rescinded by Director David Kappos. In a press release expected to be issued shortly, the Office will…
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