Federal Circuit declines to consider constitutionality of BPAI judge appointments, affirms rejection In a decision this week, the Federal Circuit decided a case involving both obviousness and the Appointments Clause relating to allegedly unconstitutional appointment of members of the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences. The court determined that appellants failed to timely raise the issue of the constitutionality of the Appointments Clause by not presenting it […] Continue Reading →
BPAI: 102(e) art can be effective prior art as of provisional priority date In a decision recently designated precedential, the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences considered the question of whether a reference that is prior art under § 102(e) is prior art as of its provisional priority date or the actual filing date of the reference. In affirming the examiner, the Board determined the reference was prior […] Continue Reading →
USPTO announces trademark consistency pilot program In a notice today, the USPTO announced a new trademark consistency initiative. Under the new initiative, applicants who believe a substantive or procedural issue has been addressed in a "significantly different manner" in two applications may raise the issue for consistency review. This is subject to four requirements: the request is based on co-pending applications […] Continue Reading →
Improper revival cannot be raised as grounds for invalidity in an infringement action In a decision yesterday, the Federal Circuit reversed a district court's summary judgment of invalidity. The district court held that the application that led to the patent-in-suit was abandoned, and the USPTO improperly revived it, rendering the patent invalid. The applicant missed the 30-month PCT national phase deadline by one day, but successfully petitioned to […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit affirms USPTO’s interpretation of inter partes reexamination statute In a decision Tuesday, the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court's holding that the USPTO's interpretation of the inter partes reexamination procedure was correct, and therefore that all patent applications (other than reissue applications) filed after November 29, 1999 are eligible for inter partes reexamination, even if priority is claimed to an application filed before […] Continue Reading →
Roundup of recent USPTO federal register notices: patent agent practice, fees, new rules and more It's been a busy few weeks in rulemaking at the USPTO, with several notices recently posted that deserve attention. The notices relate to increases in fees for Fiscal Year 2009 because of the consumer price index, increases for PCT fees (and a correction), the scope of permissible practice of patent agents and changes to disciplinary […] Continue Reading →
BPAI: when prior art teaches away, expectation of success cannot support obviousness rejection In a recent precedential decision by the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences, the board reversed an Examiner's rejections based on double patenting, anticipation, and obviousness. The Board held the Examiner inappropriately rejected the claims for double patenting because there was insufficient evidence to show the compositions claimed in the prior art possessed the viscosity […] Continue Reading →
USPTO proposes limitations on fax submissions and font size In a Federal Register notice published today, the USPTO is proposing to limit the types of documents that may be submitted to the Office via fax, as well as mandating a larger font size in documents submitted to the Office. With regard to the fax limitation, the revised rules would prohibit most types of submissions […] Continue Reading →
USPTO publishes two new proposed rules packages for trademark cases Today's Federal Register brings with it two sets of proposed rule changes from the USPTO, both dealing with prosecution of trademark cases. The first, entitled "Changes in Requirements for Signature of Documents, Recognition of Representatives, and Establishing and Changing the Correspondence Address in Trademark Cases," addresses the requirements for powers of attorney and similar documents […] Continue Reading →
Legal owner responsible for timely payment of maintenance fees, equitable owner out of luck In a decision yesterday, the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court's grant of summary judgment upholding the USPTO's denial of a request to reinstate a patent for failure to pay maintenance fees. The patentee had assigned his invention to his employer, who had subsequently allowed the patent to expire due to non-payment of the maintenance […] Continue Reading →