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…
The Patent Office is establishing a separate design patent bar for people to practice design patent prosecution in front of the USPTO. I am generally against this, because I believe it will lead to bad advice being given to inventors…
The Patent Office just announced a SOAR program called “Learn the three-step approach to filing a patent without an attorney and what the USPTO Midwest Regional Office can do for you.” In this program, the PTO teaches inventors how to…
In March 2023, the Patent Office launched a new First-Time Filer Expedited Examination Pilot Program. This program speeds up the examination process for patent applications filed by certain applicants. Patent applications take a long time for review. According to USPTO…
You have almost certainly seen the phrase “patent pending” on various products or inventions. Inventors love to say patent pending, and companies love to brand their products as patent pending. But what does it actually mean? Patent Pending Basics “Patent…
The picture at right showed up in my LinkedIn feed a few days ago. How great is it? This guy radiates optimism and determination, and he has from the moment I met him. Vance Zahorski is the founder of Line…
Patent examination and prior art searching are two vitally important components of the patenting process. As an inventor, it is essential to understand these processes to ensure that your patent application has the best chance of success. Below, I explore…
The EU Unitary Patent will soon come into effect. When it does, it will become a centralized system to obtain a single patent registration that covers many European countries. It is a new type of patent that will be available…
A European patent is a platform from which a person or business may be granted exclusive rights to an invention in multiple countries across Europe. The European Patent Office (EPO) examines and grants European patents. Importantly, the European patent is…
The Patent Office is delaying the non-DOCX penalty fees it had said would go into effect at the beginning of 2023. As part of its “modernization” efforts, the Patent Office has been pushing patent attorneys, agents, and pro se filers…