On September 30, 2024, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced that the last day of the After Final Consideration Pilot Program 2.0 (AFCP 2.0) is set for December 14, 2024.1 The program was set to run...more
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has announced that its “After Final Consideration Pilot Program 2.0” (“AFCP 2.0”) will come to an end on December 14, 2024. First rolled out in 2013, the program was part of USPTO...more
Based on feedback from the public on the use of After Final Consideration Pilot Program 2.0 (AFCP 2.0) and hesitancy to accept the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s proposal for a new fee to participate in AFCP 2.0, the...more
On October 1, 2024, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced that it is terminating its After Final Consideration Pilot Program 2.0 (AFCP 2.0), which is set to expire on December 14, 2024. The...more
Since 2012, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has provided patent applicants and examiners an opportunity to continue collaborative prosecution after a final rejection has been received through the After...more
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is terminating the After Final Consideration Pilot Program 2.0 (AFCP 2.0), which provided examiners additional time to search and/or consider responses following final rejection of...more
On April 30, the USPTO announced a Request for Comments (RFC) seeking public feedback on how AI could affect USPTO evaluations on patentability, including what qualifies as prior art and the assessment of the level of...more
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has proposed significant changes to patent fee structures for the 2025 fiscal year. These proposed changes mark a pivotal shift in the Office’s financial approach toward...more
On December 8, 2022, the US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) announced the launch of the Cancer Moonshot Expedited Examination Pilot Program (Cancer Moonshot Pilot). This program begins on February 1, 2023, and replaces the...more
The USPTO Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) rules include a “safe harbor” that avoids a PTA deduction for “Applicant delay” for Information Disclosure Statements that are accompanied by a certain statement averring that the items...more
In Chudik V. Hirshfeld, the Federal Circuit upheld the USPTO’s determination that a Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) award for “C” delay is not available when an examiner reopens prosecution after an Appeal Brief is filed,...more
On February 4, 2021 the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) extended for two years the expansion of the Collaborative Search Pilot Program (CSP), which began in 2015 and is now scheduled to end October 31, 2022. The CSP...more
CHUDIK V. HIRSHFELD - Before Taranto, Bryson, and Hughes. Appeal from the United State District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia - Summary: An examiner’s self-reversal may not qualify as “reversing an...more
It can be difficult to advance prosecution of a U.S. patent application efficiently and effectively after prosecution has been closed and an Advisory Action has been mailed. Various U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)...more
Increased employee mobility, health challenges, and the economic downturn due to the COVID-19 pandemic may result in more inventors than usual being unavailable to sign declarations for patent applications as required by the...more
The United States Patent & Trademark Office (“USPTO”) recently changed its enforcement of 37 C.F.R. 1.114(e)(3) as it relates to an inventor’s oath or declaration, and the change may impact U.S. national stage applications...more
This article discusses aspects of ex parte appeals of patent applications before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). A patent applicant, whose claims have been twice rejected, may appeal an examiner’s...more
On June 16, 2020, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) released final rules (the “Rules”) implementing changes to how Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) is calculated in certain circumstances in view of Supernus Pharms.,...more
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has recently launched two new initiatives to support COVID-19 innovations: 1) a COVID-19 Prioritized Examination Pilot Program, and 2) Patents 4 Partnerships that provides...more
Today, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced a pilot program to accelerate prosecution of patent applications relating to COVID-19 prevention and treatment submitted by small and micro entities. ...more
Through the Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is rolling out programs to enhance overall patent quality. The latest program rolled out was the Post-Prosecution Pilot (P3) Program, which...more
In a case explaining what comprises an “applicant delay” in the context of a patent term adjustment (PTA), the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit sided with the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) ruling that the...more
Mayo Foundation v. Iancu reads more like an arithmetic problem than a Federal Circuit decision. The reason is the case involves the Patent Term Adjustment Act (PTA) (see 35 U.S.C. § 154(b)). ...more
A weekly summary of the precedential patent-related opinions issued by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the opinions designated precedential or informative by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board....more
MAYO FOUNDATION FOR MEDICAL EDUCATION AND RESEARCH v. ANDREI IANCU, UNDER SECRETARY OF COMMERCE FOR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND DIRECTOR OF THE UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE - Before: Newman, Lourie, and Dyk - ...more