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Patent Litigation United States Patent and Trademark Office Patent Examinations

Levenfeld Pearlstein, LLC

Redesigning Design Patent Validity

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit sitting en banc recently overruled the long-standing test for determining obviousness of design patents in LKQ Corporation, Keystone Automotive Industries, Inc. v. GM Global...more

Womble Bond Dickinson

USPTO Issues Updated Examination Guidance After Federal Circuit Overhauls Test for Design Patent Obviousness

Womble Bond Dickinson on

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a Memorandum to the Corps of Patent Examiners (the “Guidance”), attempting to provide clarity in the wake of the Federal Circuit’s highly anticipated en banc...more

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C.

Fixing Unintentional Duty of Disclosure and Candor Issues Through Supplemental Examination

A significant procedure for patent owners, Supplemental Examination, was established in the 2012 America Invents Act when Congress determined there should be a proceeding to turn events that in the past could lead to...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

Congress’ latest attempt to address subject matter eligibility

Through the vicissitudes of the continuing chaos of subject matter eligibility, Senators Coons and Tillis have been steadfast in attempting to provide a legislative solution. They chaired a series of Congressional hearings in...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

Senators Tillis and Coons Once More Attempt to Fix Patent Eligibility

Patent eligibility is broken. The only semi-cogent arguments that I have ever heard in support of the status quo is that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issues too many broad, vague patents, and that 35 U.S.C. § 101...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

PTAB Remains Hostile to Section 101 Appeals

There is ample evidence that patent examiner allowance rates vary dramatically from examiner to examiner and art unit to art unit.[1]  This has resulted in the general understanding that there are "easy" examiners and "tough"...more

McDermott Will & Emery

PTO Update: COVID-19 Prioritized Examination Extended, Non-DOCX Filing Fee Deferred and More

On December 22, 2022, the US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) announced the fifth extension of the Modified COVID-19 Prioritized Examination Pilot Program. The pilot program had been set to terminate on December 31, 2022, and...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

Think Twice About Appealing a § 101 Rejection to the PTAB

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) established its Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) in September 2012.  As mandated by the America Invents Act, the PTAB conducts administrative trials, such as inter partes...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

Senator Tillis' Patent Eligibility Reform Proposal: A Biopharma Perspective

Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) introduced S. 4734, entitled "A Bill to amend Title 35, U.S. Code, to address matters relating to patent subject matter eligibility, and for other purposes" last night, as was discussed in an...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

USPTO Director's Blog Post Extolling Certainty in § 101 Determinations Paradoxically Increases Uncertainty

Kathi Vidal, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (at right) released a blog post on the USPTO's Director's Blog on Monday addressing the fraught subject...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

A Few Things that USPTO Could Do to Simplify Patent Prosecution

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office handles hundreds of thousands of patent applications per year, as well as various types of administrative patent proceedings.  While the USPTO has made incremental improvements in its...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

Eight Patent Examination Annoyances and How to Respond to Them

Patent examiners have a hard job.  They are given a relatively short amount of time in which they are supposed to thoroughly review a patent application, search for relevant prior art, and write a well-reasoned Office...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

Faux-Populist Patent Fantasies from The New York Times

On a spring Saturday in a year when three major holidays -- Easter, Passover, and Ramadan -- coincided or overlapped, The New York Times Editorial Board decided it was time to announce that the "United States Patent and...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

USPTO News Briefs

Updated First Office Action Estimator Tool Now Available - In a Patent Alert email distributed earlier today, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that an updated First Office Action Estimator online tool is now...more

Morgan Lewis

USPTO Introduces Pilot Program to Defer Response to Subject Matter Eligibility Rejections

Morgan Lewis on

The US Patent and Trademark Office is implementing a pilot program to allow participating applicants to defer responding to subject matter eligibility rejections until the earlier of a final disposition of the application, or...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

Top Stories of 2021: #7 to #9

After reflecting upon the events of the past twelve months, Patent Docs presents its 15th annual list of top patent stories. For 2021, we identified nine stories that were covered on Patent Docs last year that we believe had...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Benefits and Considerations for Patent Prosecution under Patent Prosecution Highway in the U.S., Europe, China, and Singapore

Patent Prosecution Highway or PPH is a set of initiatives promulgated by participating patent offices around the world to accelerate patent prosecution in countries of the participating patent offices. PPH allows the...more

Kilpatrick

Five Impactful USPTO Procedural Developments for Patent Practitioners

Kilpatrick on

As the world pivoted to navigate obstacles brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the USPTO not only adapted to address the challenges, but appeared to make the most of this period by improving existing procedures. Partner...more

Morrison & Foerster LLP - Federal Circuitry

Last Week in the Federal Circuit (June 7-11): Prosecution Laches—Following the Letter of the Law May Not Always Be Enough

If last week’s post on prosecution disclaimer left you hoping for more decisions about the patent application process, you're in luck. This week we're covering another case about patent prosecution and the somewhat rare...more

Knobbe Martens

Bulk-Filed Patent Applications Claiming Distant Priority Trigger Prosecution Laches

Knobbe Martens on

HYATT v. HIRSHFELD - Before Reyna, Wallach, and Hughes. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Summary: The PTO met its burden to prove prosecution laches for bulk-filed patent...more

Rothwell, Figg, Ernst & Manbeck, P.C.

Patent Strategy Should Consider Examiner Incentives

Patent examiners operate under a complex network of production and quality incentives that influence the likelihood that an examiner will allow or reject a given patent application. In an empirical study published in the...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

In re Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University (Fed. Cir. 2021)

The Federal Circuit affirmed a decision by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) rejecting claims for failure to satisfy the subject matter eligibility standard under 35 U.S.C. § 101, in ex...more

Morrison & Foerster LLP - Federal Circuitry

Last Week in the Federal Circuit (February 8-12): Patent Term Adjustments When Examiners Back Down

Did you remember to send your favorite examiner a Valentine’s Day card?  Okay, so maybe that’s not the typical applicant/examiner relationship.  But this week we do look at some potential consequences from the back and forth...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

The CRISPR Chronicles: Enter Toolgen

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Patent Trial and Appeal Board has declared interferences individually between Toolgen as Senior Party and as Junior Party the parties in the pending interference, Broad Institute, Harvard...more

BakerHostetler

Fast Track or Slow Stroll? Find the Right Pace For Your Patent Prosecution Matters

BakerHostetler on

For a company rushing to bring a breakthrough product to a red-hot marketplace, the goal may be a speedy patent prosecution at the United States patent office – but for a “stealth mode” company, the goal may be a slower and...more

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