Posts in Patent Drafting Basics
Drafting Lessons from a 101 Loss in the Eastern District of Texas
On March 30, Judge Sean D. Jordan of the United States Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, issued a rather atypical Order, at least for …
From Agent to Examiner and Back Again: Practical Lessons Learned from Inside the USPTO
As a Patent Agent, the work product coming out of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) seemed random to me. This article shares what I …
Understand Your Utility Patent Application Drawings
While it has been said that the how and why of patent application drawings are usually best left to the professionals, I do think it is important …
Getting a Patent: The Devastating Consequences of Not Naming All Inventors
Naming the correct inventors is critical when drafting a U.S. patent. Patents must have all inventors properly named. Deciding who is an inventor is a complicated …
Getting A Patent: Who Should be Named as An Inventor?
Every time a patent application is filed, we have to ask, “Who are the inventors?” It is a simple question, but the answer can be complicated. And …
Make Your Disclosures Meaningful: A Plea for Clarity in Patent Drafting
Legal writing has long attracted criticism. In Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift complained of lawyers’ “peculiar cant and jargon of their own, that no other mortal can …
Avoid the Patent Pit of Despair: Drafting Claims Away from TC 3600
I’ve recently hosted two webinars on patent classification, taking a look at how contractors for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) determine where to …
A Tale of Two Electric Vehicle Charging Stations: Drafting Lessons for the New Eligibility Reality
While perusing the Patent Gazette looking for interesting, recently issued patents to discuss during Intro to Patent Prosecution, I stumbled across U.S. Patent No. 10,668,819, titled Enhanced …
Background Pitfalls When Drafting a Patent Application
Generally speaking, the first section of a patent specification will be the Background. The Manual of Patent Examination and Procedure (MPEP) recommends that the Background be broken …
Eight Tips to Get Your Patent Approved at the EPO
Patent prosecution can sometimes seem to be a rather byzantine process. As with anything, the more you understand, the better prepared you will be for the strategic …
What to Know About Drafting Patent Claims
In order to obtain exclusive rights on an invention, you must file for and obtain a patent. Many inventors will initially opt to file a provisional patent …
Beyond the Slice and Dice: Turning Your Idea into an Invention
The patent process actually starts well before you file a patent application or seek assistance from a patent attorney. Every patent application starts with an invention, and …
Examining the Unforeseen Effects of the USPTO’s New Section 112 Guidelines
When the USPTO issued its 2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance in January of this year, it seemed as if the patentability tides had finally shifted in …
Anatomy of a Valuable Patent: Building on the Structural Uniqueness of an Invention
From a conceptual standpoint, it would seem logical to assume that writing text to describe a particular invention ought to be easy for the inventor of that …
Software Patent Drafting Lessons from the Key Lighthouse Cases
Obtaining a U.S. software patent is still harder than it was five years ago, but studying these "lighthouse" cases can improve one's chances of success. While …
