Patent Baristas

Over 150 companies, associations, venture capitalists, unions, universities and innovation-focused entities  called on Congress to support keeping the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office funding provisions in H.R. 1249, “The America Invents Act.” Section 22 of the Judiciary Committee reported bill creates a mandatory revolving fund in the Treasury to retain all user fees collected by […]

It looks like the Patent Reform Act is no longer a done deal.  Tuesday afternoon, Rep. Harold Rogers (Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee) and Rep. Paul Ryan (Chairman of Budget) wrote a letter to Rep. Lamar Smith (Chairman of the Judiciary) insisting on maintaining the power of these two committees to control the Patent […]

It looks like The Patent Reform Act of 2011 (not to be confused with the the Patent Reform Act of 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007 …) will be on the Senate floor for an up-or-down vote in the next week or so. So, is it good for American inventors or bad?  It depends on whose interest […]

Senators Patrick Leahy, Orrin Hatch, and Chuck Grassley introduced The Patent Reform Act of 2011, which has been placed on the Judiciary Committee’s agenda for their first executive business meeting. The provisions and language of the bill look a lot like items in the long-pending legislation that were part of a compromise that was announced […]

“The backlog is indeed our biggest problem.” ~ USPTO Director David Kappos CBS News ran a story on Sunday on the growing backlog at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Since the federal patent agency was created in 1790, the U.S Patent and Trademark Office has issued 7,752,677 patents. Now, with an average wait time […]

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office put out a Request for Comments on Proposed Changes to Restriction Practice in Patent Applications. Summary: In situations in which two or more independent and distinct inventions are claimed in a single patent application, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office) is authorized by the patent laws and […]

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) is Chairwoman of the Senate Small Business Committee.  Sen. Landrieu has introduced The Small Business Patent Data Collection Act of 2010 after concerns about how the Senate patent reform bill will impact small businesses.  Small businesses represent 99.7 percent of all employers, employing 1/2 of the U.S. labor force. The bill […]

Here comes the Patent Reform Act of 2010 in the form of an Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute to S. 515 (“Amendment to S. 515”).  I know, you’ve heard all this before with the Patent Reform Act of 2009, the Patent Reform Act of 2008, the Patent Reform Act of 2007, the Patent […]