“Unavailable” Joint Inventor after the America Invents Act All applications for United States patent must include an oath or declaration signed by each inventor. The oath or declaration must be furnished to the United States Patent and Trademark Office no later than the date on which the issue fee is paid, but preferably on the same day as the non-provisional application is filed to […] 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 →
Applying the USPTO Guidance on Patent Eligibility of Software The Supreme Court’s June 25, 2014 decision in Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank International, et al., was anticipated as being the case to decide once and for all whether software is patentable. Many were worried the decision would cause the demise of software patents while others hoped it would secure the future […] Continue Reading →
Sales, Public Disclosure, and the One-Year Grace Period The America Invents Act (AIA) changed a number of provisions in the Patent Act (Title 35, U.S.C.). While many of these changes have not yet been subjected to scrutiny through litigation, a large number have been the subject of analysis by the USPTO, by virtue of their implementation into the rules of patent examination. Among […] Continue Reading →
USPTO Opens Two New Regional Offices Under the America Invents Act, the USPTO has the capability to open regional offices to assist inventors and businesses with their intellectual property needs. Recently, two new regional offices were opened: San Jose, California and Dallas, Texas. The San Jose Office opened on October 15, 2015 and is located within the Silicon Valley’s central business […] Continue Reading →
Federal Circuit-Statements in Application Properly Used to Enable Prior Art One of the basic requirements for the grant of a patent by the USPTO is the invention must be shown to be “new.”In practice, this means that the invention must be sufficiently different from the existing prior art, including patents, publications, and existing products. However, in order for a piece of prior art to preclude […] Continue Reading →
Streamlined, Expedited Patent Appeal Program for Small Entities Announced by USPTO As of September 18, 2015, small or micro entities with only a single ex parte appeal pending before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) will be able to expedite review of their appeal in exchange for streamlining the process. According to the information provided on the USPTO website, the criteria for qualification for this […] Continue Reading →
Patent Office Extends After Final Consideration Pilot Program The After Final Consideration Pilot (AFCP 2.0) program provides patent applicants at the USPTO with the opportunity to address issues that may remain in an application after a final rejection has issued. The AFCP 2.0 program is something of an exception to typical procedure, wherein a patent examiner has considerable discretion as to whether to […] Continue Reading →
New Changes Proposed for PTAB Trial Proceedings Rules USPTO Director Michelle K. Lee discussed proposed rule changes in herblog post for Wednesday, August 19. The first set of rules governing inter partes review, post-grant review, and covered business method patent proceedings was issued in 2012 and a number public comment sessions were held to gather feedback on these rules. In March of 2015, […] Continue Reading →
New Patent Application Alert Service The USPTO is now offering a Patent Application Alert Service (PAAS) that allows subscribers to stay current with patent application pre-grant publications that may be relevant or of interest. A subscriber will receive a weekly email alert that is customizable to a search criteria set by the subscriber. Each email will also contain direct links […] Continue Reading →