Plant Breeder’s Rights In Africa: A Personal Story By Heidi Sease Nebel I am freshly back “in country” from Accra, Ghana; and the sights, the sounds, and the frenzy of Africa still linger with me. My trip was a personal and professional highlight, as I was honored to be an invited faculty member at a joint conference between the USPTO, UPOV and ARIPO on the benefits and […] Continue Reading →
USPTO Proposed 2025 Fee Changes Pass the Notice and Comment Period By Jonathan L. Kennedy Proposed fee changes for 2025 have passed the notice and comment period and are expected to go into effect in the USPTO’s 2025 fiscal year. The USPTO allowed for public comments on the proposal to be received up until May 28, 2024. The notice of proposed rulemaking followed a public hearing held by the Patent […] Continue Reading →
Reflections on Intellectual Property and Plant Breeding since 1924 By Heidi Sease Nebel MVS is celebrating 100 years of creating, protecting and enforcing Intellectual Property (IP) Rights for our clients. We share this milestone with another organization that acts as an advocate for strong IP rights, the International Seed Federation. Founded in 1924 as well, the International Seed Federation’s mission is to “To create the best environment […] Continue Reading →
USPTO Introduces Proposed Rule Regarding Terminal Disclaimer Practice By Joseph M. Hallman On May 10, 2024, a proposed rule, introduced by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), regarding the use of terminal disclaimers to obviate nonstatutory double patenting rejections was published in the Federal Register. A double patenting rejection can arise when two applications, or an application and an issued patent, have some commonality of […] Continue Reading →