Posts Tagged: "earliest priority date"

After Priority Date Lost, PTAB Invalidates Aircraft Lavatory Design Patent

Despite the April 2011 priority date asserted for the ‘031 design patent, the PTAB found in its institution decision that the ‘031 patent wasn’t entitled to the priority date for the patent application resulting in the ‘838 patent because of a lack of written description support for the design claimed in the ‘031 patent… C&D Zodiac had provided evidence from a slide-show presentation shown at a B/E Aerospace Investor Day event in March 2012 which included slides (see left) depicting the Spacewall technology covered by the ‘031 patent as well as commercial success including an $800 million contract with Boeing signed in 2011.

Steve Brachmann

November 25, 2018

A Claim of priority Cannot Be Made With an Incorporation by Reference

Upon filing a patent application, the USPTO mails a filing receipt. The domestic and foreign claim of priority is stated and should be checked to make sure that it reflects the claim of priority that the inventor intends. Otherwise, the patent owner may not be able to cure the defect when trying to sue an infringer after it issues as a patent. If it can be fixed after it matures into a patent, the costs are much higher than the costs to fix while the patent application is still pending.

James Yang

May 11, 2018

The Myth of the 18-Month Delay in Publishing Patent Applications

Starting in November 2000, the USPTO started publishing patent applications 18 months after their earliest filing date. So the simple assumption is that you file a patent and 18 months later it get publicized, right? However, since the US has moved to a first-to-file System, the “earliest filing date” is really 18 months after the earliest priority date or an application can take advantage of the 12-month grace period could be published as early as 6 months after filing.

John F. Martin

August 3, 2015