Posts Tagged: "Patent Act of 1836"

En banc CAFC: Patent applicant Not required to pay PTO attorney fees in District Court appeal

NantKwest filed suit in district court under 35 U.S.C. § 145 to contest the PTO’s rejection of its patent application. The USPTO prevailed and filed a motion for reimbursement of all of its litigation expenses, including attorney’s fees. 35 U.S.C. § 145 requires that “all expenses of the proceeding be paid by the applicant,” which the USPTO claimed included their fees and costs… While Congress can create fee-shifting statutes, 35 U.S.C. § 145 did not reflect explicit congressional authorization for fee-shifting that would displace the American Rule.

Robert Schaffer & Joseph Robinson

August 5, 2018

The Day that Changed the World: April 10, 1790

To patent folks April 10, 1790 is the day that the earth shook, the heavens opened, and history was forever altered. 225 years ago, on April 10, 1790, President George Washington signed the first version of the U.S. patent act. It was the third Act of Congress. Madison, through a series of letters back and forth between Jefferson, who was in France helping Ben Franklin secure French support for the nascent US revolution, persuaded Jefferson that a limited monopoly on an inventor’s own creations was a good idea.

John White

April 9, 2015