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
about
Category: Patent Office Rules & Procedures
-
By Christopher P. Singer — In a Notice dated September 18, 2008, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that the postal interruptions cause by Hurricane Gustav in regions of Louisiana and Texas (beginning on August 30, 2008) and by Hurricane Ike in regions of Florida, Louisiana, and Texas (beginning on September 7,…
-
By Donald Zuhn — On June 10, 2008, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a notice in the Federal Register setting forth amended rules of practice before the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI) in ex parte appeals (see "New Appeals Rules Published"). What escaped the attention of the patent community…
-
By Donald Zuhn — Last week, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) pilot program with the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO), which was initiated on September 4, 2007, would be extended until further notice. The USPTO and UKIPO will continue to periodically monitor the program…
-
By Donald Zuhn — In an e-Commerce e-Alert distributed on Friday, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that it was seeking up to 1,000 registered practitioners to help with a pilot test of the Office’s new online Continuing Education for Practitioners (CEP) system. According to the Office’s call for volunteers, the goal…
-
By Christopher P. Singer — In an August 27, 2008 notice, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced that it is changing certain forms to remove language that requests a duplicate copy of the form be submitted for fee processing purposes. Previously, the duplicate copy of forms that contained an authorization to…
-
By Donald Zuhn — On Monday, the American Bar Association (ABA) Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility released a statement regarding a new ethics opinion (Formal Opinion 08-451), which concludes that U.S. lawyers can outsource legal and nonlegal work provided that they adhere to ethics rules regarding competence, supervision, protection of confidential…
-
By Donald Zuhn — The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced today that the latest version of the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (M.P.E.P.) — 8th Edition, Revision 7 — is now available. The new version replaces Revision 6, which was released in October, 2007. The parts of the latest version of the…
-
By Christopher P. Singer — In a Notice published in the Federal Register (73 Fed. Reg. 47534) on Thursday, August 14, 2008, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that certain patent fee amounts are being adjusted to reflect fluctuations in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for financial year 2009. The effective date…
-
By Donald Zuhn and Christopher P. Singer — In a Notice published in the Federal Register on August 7, 2008 ("Clarification of Patent Regulations Currently in Effect, and Revision in Applicability Date of Provisions Relating to Patent Applications Containing Patentably Indistinct Claims," 73 Fed. Reg. 45999), the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office "clarified"…
-
By Christopher P. Singer — In a Notice published in the Federal Register (73 Fed. Reg. 45662) on August 6, 2008, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office proposes new rules that severely limit the types of papers that can be submitted to the Office by facsimile. Essentially, the USPTO proposes to amend the…
Patent Docs 