Posts Tagged: "Chris Holt"

Patent and IP Wishes for 2015

I would love to see patent eligibility reform in Congress that would overrule Mayo, Myriad and Alice. I would also love to see meaningful copyright reforms and/or real Internet industry cooperation that recognizes the important rights of content creators, both large and small. I would also like to see federal trade secret legislation, which is critically important given the erosion of patent rights over the last several years. Until Congress realizes just how damaging the Supreme Court has been over the last decade more innovators will need to rely on trade secret protection, and having one regime rather than 51 regimes (i.e., 50 states plus the District of Columbia) makes no sense given the national and international scope of business in today’s global economy.

What Mattered in 2014: Reflecting on the Biggest Moments in IP

It is one again time to take a moment to look back on the year that was, reflecting on the biggest, most impactful moments of the year. For us that means looking backward at the most impactful events in the world of intellectual property. Unlike in years past where we would get a variety of different perspectives from industry insiders, there…

Examiner Statistics: Insight into Prosecution Strategies

There is no way to know for sure whether the applicant could have achieved an allowance had they hung in, but it would have been helpful to know that the examiner was very experienced and likely had decision making authority. Such an observation would have given great insight into the fact that the examiner in question here has an overall allowance rate of nearly 70%. It no doubt would have also been helpful to know that after an interview in over 50% of cases, the next significant event following the interview was an allowance. In short, the statistical data shows that this was an experienced patent examiner who is interested in working with applicants and their representatives to identify allowable subject matter and issue patents where appropriate.

Do Restriction Requirements Vary by Technology Center?

For patent prosecutors and their clients, restriction requirements represent a significant cost increase as splitting one patent application into several new applications results in the multiplication of fees and, often, loss of protection due to expense limitations. The issuance of restriction requirements by patent examiners at the USPTO seems to be somewhat random and inconsistent.