Post-Grant Reviews under the America Invents Act The America Invents Act implemented the Post-grant Review (PGR) process as a new means of challenging existing patents. PGR differs from Inter Partes Review (IPR) in that PGR allows for a wider array of invalidity challenges. One example of a new challenge allowed under PGR is the ability to challenge the claims as being indefinite. […] 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 →
Environmental Patent Litigation: A Filewrapper® Series on Environmental Technology and Patent Protection-Part V In this final week of the Filewrapper® series on considerations for environmental technology, we will be discussing environmental intellectual property litigation and wrap up with final conclusions and thoughts. The grant of a patent is the right to exclude others from the practicing the invention. On the other end of the spectrum is technology that […] Continue Reading →
Patent and Trade Secret Protection Considerations: A Filewrapper® Series on Environmental Technology and Patent Protection-Part IV In this fourth week of the Filewrapper® series on considerations for environmental technology, we will be discussing the tensions that arise in protecting environmental technology through either patents or trade secrets. As with any invention, the selection of trade secret or patent protection comes down to value of the technology as either proprietary or a […] Continue Reading →
USPTO Programs and Options: A Filewrapper® Series on Environmental Technology and Patent Protection-Part III In this third week of the Filewrapper® series on considerations environmental technology, we will be discussing USPTO efforts and programs designed specifically for environmental technologies. The concept of prioritizing green technology patents is not new to the USTPO. On December 8, 2009, a USPTO pilot program was launched to accelerate review of green technology patent […] Continue Reading →
Software patents in the Federal Circuit‚¬¦ One step forward, two steps back. Following the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in the Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Int’l, (S. Ct. 2014) case (which held that abstract ideas are not patentable), the software and computer industry has been fighting and clawing to peel back the layers of the decision in hopes of finding some clarity as to what is […] Continue Reading →
Technology Driven Environmental Standards: A Filewrapper® Series on Environmental Technology and Patent Protection–Part II Filewrapper® previously introduced a new series of blog postings on the considerations for patent protection of environmental technology. Before discussing patent protection for these emerging technologies, it is beneficial to understand the regulatory system in which environmental technology must live in order to be placed into a commercial setting. While concerns about the quality of […] Continue Reading →
“Green” Patent Protection: A Filewrapper® Series on Environmental Technology and Patent Protection-Part I Mounting scientific evidence that the global climate is changing has sparked a new wave of innovation in the field of environmental technologies. Many of these improvements to existing technologies have been patented and licensed, enhancing the financially lucrative nature of research and development in this industry. However, in some instances, despite technological advances, environmental harm […] Continue Reading →
USPTO Offers New Pilot Program for After Final Responses The USPTO has implemented the “Post-Prosecution Pilot”referred to as the “P3 Program.”The goal of the program is to reduce the need for appeals by providing a more robust after final, pre-appeal program. The P3 Program essentially blends two existing programs: the After Final Consideration Pilot and the Pre-Appeal Brief Conference Pilot. The After Final Consideration […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit Revives Life-Sciences Patent Directed to Law of Nature On Tuesday, the Federal Circuit revived a life-sciences patent that was invalidated as being directed to a law of nature. The patent involved a method for multiple freeze-thaw cycles in liver cells. In Vitro Technologies designed the method by using previously frozen cells and then pooling the cells that remained viable for re-freezing and thawing […] Continue Reading →