Patent Baristas

The United States Patent and Trademark Office revised the policy on when a second or subsequent request for reexamination is filed while an ?earlier filed reexamination? is pending, and the second or subsequent request cites only prior art, which raised a substantial new question of patentability (SNQ) in the pending reexamination proceeding.  See MPEP ? […]

Under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005 (Consolidated Appropriations Act), the USPTO splits the national fee for Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications entering the national stage into a separate national fee, search fee and examination fee, during fiscal years 2005 and 2006.  The USPTO announced that it is reducing the search fee and examination fee for […]

The USPTO has published a final rulemaking to implement the new fee structure.  See the rules description here.  There is a discussion of new section 1.52(f)(1). Section 1.52: Section 1.52(f)(1) is added to provide that any sequence listing in an electronic medium in compliance with ?? 1.52(e) and 1.821(c) or (e), and any computer program […]

The USPTO released a report that it granted 187,170 patents, including 169,296 utility (inventions), 16,533 design, and 998 plant patents as reported in fiscal year 2004. Since 1790, over seven million U.S. patents have been granted.  See the complete report here. As reported earlier by MSNBC, however, the patent application backlog will only continue to […]

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) marked the filing of the one millionth international patent application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) in the 26-year history of the PCT.  The Director General observed "While it took 22 years to receive the first half million PCT patent applications, it took only 4 years to top the […]

For those who always appreciate that "extra" day to get a filing in, the USPTO will be closed on Monday, 17 January (Martin Luther King Day) and again on Thursday, 20 January (Inaugural Day).

This topic has been kicked around so long it seems like it, like trickle-down economics, is an ideal that is always just out of our grasp.  But, I will at least pass along that the "Committee Oversight Plan 108th Congress" website for the U.S. House of Representative’s Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property […]

The USPTO has released an interim rule of practice that implements provisions of the CREATE Act that amended 35 U.S.C. 103(c). (Published at 70 FR 1818). The purpose of the Act is to promote cooperative research, such as between a university and start-up company by excluding prior art from obviousness (103) consideration if the prior […]