rethink(ip)

Claims and Continuations Final Rules to Publish in Late Summer (25Jul2007)

Posted by Kristen Cichocki at July 28, 2007 04:14 PM

Claims and Continuations Final Rules to Publish in Late Summer  (25Jul2007)

On July 9, 2007, OMB concluded its review of the Continuations and Claims rule changes. The final rules will be made public when they are published in the Federal Register, which is expected to be later this summer. The rules will become effective at least 60 days after publication in the Federal Register, and no earlier than October 1, 2007.

The abstracts of the rules currently available on the Federal Regulatory Information Web site (http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eoViewRule?ruleID=273406 and http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eoViewRule?ruleID=273407) reflect the abstracts of the Continuations and Claims notices of proposed rule-making that were published in January, 2006.

Draft KSR Training Guidelines Under OMB Review (20Jul2007)

Draft KSR Training Guidelines Under OMB Review  (20Jul2007)

The USPTO has sent to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review draft final guidance for use by patent examiners in determining if an invention is obvious in view of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in KSR v Teleflex.

The USPTO will post the final guidance document on its website after OMB concludes its review. In the interim, the agency will begin training for examiners on implementation of KSR.

Comments Regarding the International Effort to Harmonize the Substantive Requirements of Patent Laws (11Jul2007)

Posted by Kristen Cichocki at July 17, 2007 10:41 PM

Comments Regarding the International Effort to Harmonize the Substantive Requirements of Patent Laws (11Jul2007)

View comments at the following url:

http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/dcom/olia/harmonization/index.html

Addition of Japan Patent Office as Participating Foreign Intellectual Property Office in Electronic Exchange of Priority Documents [signed 10 July 2007] [PDF] (10Jul2007)

Addition of Japan Patent Office as Participating Foreign Intellectual Property Office in Electronic Exchange of Priority Documents [signed 10 July 2007] [PDF] (10Jul2007)

 

View and/or download a PDF of this notice at the following url:

http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/dapp/opla/preognotice/jpo_pdx.pdf

Patent Cooperation Treaty Update [signed 28 June 2007] [PDF] (09Jul2007)

Patent Cooperation Treaty Update [signed 28 June 2007] [PDF] (09Jul2007)

View and/or download a PDF of this notice at the following url:

http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/dapp/opla/preognotice/pctfeeupdate07.pdf

E-Mail with Direct Link to Issued Trademark Office Actions and Appeal Briefs Replaces E-Mailed Office Actions/Appeal Briefs (25Jun2007)

Posted by Kristen Cichocki at July 4, 2007 12:59 PM

E-Mail with Direct Link to Issued Trademark Office Actions and Appeal Briefs Replaces E-Mailed Office Actions/Appeal Briefs (25Jun2007)

The USPTO is aware of the concern with the USPTO’s new e-mail notification with a TDR link to the Office action or brief, specifically with the objection to any delay in the availability of the Office action or brief in TDR.  While the TDR link within a notification is generally available within 15 minutes or less of the notification being issued, it may occasionally take up to 24 hours for the link to work.  Thus, in the vast majority of cases, the USPTO expects that the link would be available when the e-mail recipient first attempts to access it.  However, given the inconvenience that any delay may cause, the USPTO continues to work toward refining this new procedure, so that the e-mail notification and availability of the link are synchronized.

 

Nonetheless, regardless of the brief delay in availability under the current procedure, the e-mail notification procedure is still vastly superior to paper mail, where the time between mailing and receipt of an Office action or brief can be three to five business days. The new procedure also improves upon the previous method of sending the Office action or brief within the actual e-mail itself, because applicants no longer have to track multiple e-mails for Office actions or briefs containing large amounts of evidence, or run the risk of not receiving all such e-mails. 

Extension of the Patent Prosecution Highway Pilot Program between the USPTO and the JPO(28Jun2007)

Extension of the Patent Prosecution Highway Pilot Program between the USPTO and the JPO(28Jun2007)

 

View and/or download a PDF of this notice at the following url:

http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/dapp/opla/preognotice/pphextension.pdf

 

Notice of the Removal of the Paper Search Collection of Registered Marks That Include Design Elements from Trademark Search Library in Arlington, VA (28Jun2007)

Notice of the Removal of the Paper Search Collection of Registered Marks That Include Design Elements from Trademark Search Library in Arlington, VA (28Jun2007)

 

View and/or download a PDF of this notice at the following url:

http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/sol/notices/72fr35429.pdf 

A Victory for Inventors

A Victory for Inventors
Disciplinary Action Affirmed by CAFC

Recently the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC), affirmed disciplinary action taken by the USPTO against a registered patent attorney, who became involved in the activities of one invention promotion company and represented more than one thousand inventors. This important decision lends critical support to the USPTO's efforts to protect unsuspecting inventors from unscrupulous invention promoters. If you have questions please call Harry Moatz, Director of the Office of Enrollment and Discipline, 571-272-6069.

The USPTO urges all independent inventors to read the court's decision