Posts Tagged: "examination"

Almost two years ago, the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (BPTO) launched a plan to reduce the backlog in examination of patent applications, which has had positive results. As part of this important initiative, at the beginning of 2021, the BPTO published its action plan for the year indicating its intentions to increase the efficiency of services offered by the institution via new performance goals. The plan to combat the backlog has already resulted in a reduction of more than 60% of patent applications pending for decision. This has had a positive effect on the credibility of the Brazilian patent system domestically, but also has contributed to the improvement of the national and international attractiveness of the sector, which will possibly provide a greater incentive to protect patents in Brazil.

Ecuador has been participating in a pilot program of the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) since 2016 but has as of yet failed to implement the system for a number of reasons. However, with the announcement in July that Ecuador may join the Pacific Alliance next year under its new President, Lenin Moreno, and a general market-friendly shift in government, it is expected that the PPH could soon become effective. The PPH would be indispensable for Ecuador, as it would save resources and lower costs for applicants and for the Patent Office, would speed up the lengthy patent prosecution process, and would harmonize practice in the region by creating unified criteria on the issues subject to these examination procedures.

Despite going on with the protest after the USPTO denied a use permit application for the event, a source from the event reports that all planned aspects of the protest, including the burning of patents in clear view of the USPTO, occurred without anyone going to jail… Inventors went to the front steps of the USPTO and lit their patents on fire. According to Landreneau, a total of six patents were burnt in this manner.

Earlier today the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued a new memorandum to patent examiners on recent software patent eligibility decisions from the Federal Circuit. The memo sent to the patent examining corps from Robert Bahr, who is Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy, explains that this most recent memorandum provides examiners with discussion of McRo, Inc. v. Bandai Namco Games America and BASCOM Global Internet Services v. AT&T Mobility.

In several jurisdictions across the globe, the costs are a function of various variables such as the mode of filing, the type of applicant, the number of pages of the specification and claims, and the number of claims/independent claims/multiple dependent claims. The costs generally have three components (official, associate/attorney, and translation) that are spread across the different stages of the patenting process (filing, examination and prosecution, grant, and maintenance or renewal or annuity). For instance, let us consider a PCT application filed by a large entity comprising 50 pages (including 5 pages of drawings and 10 pages of claims) and 20 claims (including 3 independent claims) which is to be electronically filed in the top 10 jurisdictions, namely Canada (CA), China (CN), European Patent Office (EP), Israel (IL), India (IN), Iran (IR), Japan (JP), South Korea (KR), Russia (RU), and the United States (US)