Surge in Patent Applications Related to 3D Printing: Is Yours One of Them? The USPTO recently released statistics that over 8,000 patent applications were filed in 2016 related to 3D printing (additive manufacturing). Some of the interesting 3D printing inventions that have been subject to publicity include,prosthetic hands and fingers for children without fingers, three-dimensional bioprinting of human-compatible vascularized tissue developed by graduate students at Harvard, and a […] Continue Reading →
USPTO Data Visualization Center Have you ever wondered how long the typical time before a first Office Action in a pending patent or trademark application is? Or am I the only one waiting for some months after filing an RCE to have my patent application reexamined? Or what is the average length of time a patent application or trademark […] Continue Reading →
Avoiding Pitfalls in European filings Subsequent to Filing a United States Patent Application When filing a European patent application subsequent to a United States patent application, via Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) or otherwise, it is essential to draft the claims (and preferably the written description) with an eye to, and a working knowledge of, the intricacies of European Patent Laws. Merely appending foreign filing documents to a copy […] Continue Reading →
Programming note As many have surely noticed, while we have covered the major issues that have arisen, the pace of posts here at Filewrapper has slowed down of late. This is a reflection of the recent demands of the actual practice of law. The good news is the blogging pace should pick up soon, and look for […] Continue Reading →
Patry copyright blog is no more It's a sad day in the blogosphere, as Bill Patry, author of Patry on Copyright and the Patry Copyright Blog, has announced he is shutting down his blog. We've linked to Professor Patry's commentary on copyright law on many occasions, and his additional insight into copyright issues will be missed. Other blogs noting his departure: […] Continue Reading →
The clear target of the new continuation and claim limit rules: Thomas Edison This was received over email today. While we have not verified the information, it shows that the new rules arguably do not "Promote the Progress of Science and Useful Arts." THANK GOODNESS FOR COMMISSIONER DUDAS AND HIS NEW RULESBefore the new rules, one New Jersey inventor amassed 394 patents with more than 5 independent claims, […] Continue Reading →
The Federal Circuit turns 25 Today marks the 25th anniversary of the existence of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. On April 2, 1982, President Reagan signed the Federal Courts Improvement Act, Pub. L. No. 97-164, 96 Stat. 25, which created the Federal Circuit. The Act took effect on October 1, 1982, which marked the date […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit changing its domain name effective October 1 According to an announcement on the Federal Circuit's webpage, the court will be changing its domain name effective October 1, 2007. The change from www.fedcir.gov to www.cafc.uscourts.gov will bring the Federal Circuit in line with the other courts of appeal, whose domain names are www.ca#.uscourts.gov (where # is the circuit number or "dc" for the […] Continue Reading →