On August 28, the White House issued an executive order which stripped collective-bargaining rights at several agencies, including the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, instantly reshaping labor relations for thousands of patent examiners. The executive order premises the change on…
I was attempting to file a provisional application today in the USPTO’s no-longer-new-but-still-quite-buggy Patent Center filing system. I am glad I not up against a deadline today. I logged in, and a “Search Limit Reached” error message immediately popped up,…
I recently wrote about the use of DAS for transmitting priority documents to foreign patent offices. Today, I describe how to get your priority documents into DAS. Note that this description is applicable only to first-filed US patent applications. If…
The Digital Access Service (DAS) at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is a secure, electronic system designed to facilitate the sharing and exchange of priority documents among participating patent offices around the world. Here is a breakdown of its…
In April, we had a major success for a client. I am thrilled to announce it here now. Over the years, I’ve drafted, prosecuted, and granted utility patents, design patents, and trademarks for The Comfy. Recently, a jury awarded them…
Information disclosure statements are filings made with the Patent Office to disclose references that might be relevant to an invention described in a patent application. The Patent Office imposes a duty on everyone associated with a patent application to submit…
Recently the website IPWatchdog published an article that addressed a topic important enough that I thought I should mention it here as well. It concerns patent maintenance fees and the possible accidental payment of maintenance fees on already-expired patents. Patent…
If a Patent Examiner at the United States Patent and Trademark Office believes that your application claims more than one invention, he or she will issue a restriction requirement. Restriction requirements are incredibly common and are a normal part of…
Continuation-in-part patent applications are a strange type of continuing patent application. They are a tool that can extend the life of a patent family and protect improvements to inventions covered by prior patents. They have significant risks, however, and should…
Applicants make amendments in patent applications all the time. Usually, these amendments are made while patent prosecution is active, before a Notice of Allowance. However, you can actually amend the application just before it issues as a granted patent. What…