Patent Baristas

On September 8, a group of more than 100 national and state-based advocacy organizations sent a letter to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees urging Congress to amend H.R. 9 to preserve  protections of the Hatch-Waxman Act and to avoid weakening the patents that sustain medical research. In the letter, advocates argue that the Innovation Act […]

The USPTO began accepting applications for the Glossary Pilot on Monday, June 2 as part of ongoing efforts to improve the U.S. patent system. The Office initiated the pilot program to study the impact of glossary on claim clarity in the specification of software-related patent applications by encouraging the use of glossaries by patent applicants and […]

In January 2014, the USPTO published proposed rules to increase the transparency of patent ownership information for patent applications and issued patents, which the USPTO termed “attributable ownership proposed rules” as a shorthand title. You can review our attributable ownership proposed rules here. The proposed changes to the rules of practice will require that the attributable owner, […]

The Consequences of Pending Legislation and Proposed Alternatives The Patent Act of 1790 granted patents to “he, she, or they” at a cost that even a pauper could afford.  At a time when women and blacks could not own property, both could own patents… and both did.  In 1809, Mary Kies became the first woman […]

Today’s post is by Guest Barista Jay Pattumudi, a Patent Attorney with Bruzga and Associates. Under the new U.S. patent reform act, America Invents Act (AIA), the scope of prior art for making novelty and obviousness determinations has been broadened in some aspects but, in some cases, has been narrowed. With regard to making such determinations, […]

On September 16, 2011, President Barack Obama signed into law the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act.   This Act is often referred to as the most comprehensive overhaul to our patent system since 1836. Seven provisions of the AIA and USPTO implementing final rules for these provisions go into effect today on September 16, 2012: 1.  Inventor’s […]

The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) dictates that at least three satellite offices be opened by the USPTO in three years. The Detroit satellite office was the first of four selected by the USPTO to increase outreach, improve retention and recruitment of patent examiners, decrease the patent application backlog and improve the quality of examination. […]

“We are complying with Congress’ mandate to set fees at a level that enables the USPTO to recover the actual costs of the services it provides, while enabling us to implement all of the provisions of the Act.” ~Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO David Kappos The U.S. Patent […]