AUTM’s Recommends Narrow Changes to NIST on the ROI Initiative

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently issued a public Request for Information for the Return on Investment (ROI) Initiative. The Association of Technology Managers (AUTM), who supports the ROI Initiative, stresses in their response that the fundamental principles of the Bayh-Dole Act be preserved. As pointed out by AUTM, Bayh-Dole has significantly […]

Just Because It’s Nanoscale, Doesn’t Mean It’s Not a Big Deal

By Jonathan L. Kennedy

Nanotechnology has been taking innovation by storm for decades now and its only increasing its footprint. This is reflected in the growing number of granted patents and published applications directed to nanotechnology inventions. For example, according to StatNano (an organization that monitors and publishing information regarding nanotechnology global developments), more than 20,000 granted patents and […]

Survey Shows Academic Intellectual Property is Growing

Academic research effort continues to grow according to results from the annual survey of the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM). The recently released survey of 195 universities, hospitals and other research institutions reflects increases in many areas of inventive efforts. The number of invention disclosures in 2016 increased 8.7% since 2012, and provisional patent […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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: […]

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, […]

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 […]