Patent Baristas

Admittedly, patent reform is not a sexy topic. Those passionate about it are lab geeks, computer nerds, inventors, academics, attorneys and IP bloggers – not exactly the glitterati. But if it passes the hurdle of a full Senate vote, it will hurt – entrepreneurs, inventors and the economy. Perhaps this lack of charisma is why […]

Inventors Eye, a new electronic publication by the United States Patent and Trademark Office is a bimonthly publication for the independent inventor community. According to the USPTO, Inventors Eye is for and about America’s independent and small entity inventor community. It is a community that has always been a vital and vibrant part of America’s […]

In my last post, I discussed the approaches taken by four commercial search systems with regard to their Japanese collections:   Minesoft PatBase, Questel’s QPAT and orbit.com platforms, Thomson Reuters Thomson Innovation , and LexisNexis TotalPatent. This post contains a summary of the comparison information in table form.  The tables below reference “machine-assisted” and “machine-aided” translations; […]

Patent searching is still a profession where there aren’t many formal educational opportunities, and learning generally comes with experience.  However, no matter how skilled the searcher, the quality of the search is only as good as the coverage of the resources queried.  Searchable full text patent collections are easy to come by if you’re interested […]

The European Patent Office (“EPO”) recently announced that most of its fees will increase by between 5 and 8 per cent from April 1, 2010.  A summary of the new fees is shown here. What does this all mean to you? If you know that you want to enter the European regional phase of a […]

The therapeutic use of that substance cannot be patented because that use is a method of treatment of a human or animal body by surgery, therapy or diagnosis which is practiced on that human or animal body. Methods of treatment are regarded in Europe as not being capable of industrial application and are consequently not […]

The EPO Enlarged Board of Appeal handed down its decision relating to the interpretation of the exclusion for patentability under article 53(c) EPC “method for treatment of the human or animal body by surgery”. Questions were asked to the Enlarged Board in a case about a medical imaging method, whereby a contrast agent was injected […]

Trademarks have been in existence since as early as 5000 B.C. Humans have an unmistakable desire to use marks to designate ownership- either as property owner or as manufacturer. It is probable that primitive man used marks to indicate ownership of livestock. Later marks were used to indicate the maker of goods and their obligation […]