Posts Tagged: "patent office"

As global demand for energy continues to grow and the price of oil and gasoline continue to rise we must pursue solutions for cleaner, renewable energy. The technology that will ultimately support an alternative energy driven economy is not where we want it to be, if we do not aggressively pursue such technologies and build on early stage successes we will never get to the finish line. Complaining about the fact that the finish line is so far away and the technology incapable of providing a solution today is exceptionally myopic. Nothing worth doing is ever easy and without taking critical first steps the final celebratory steps are simply impossible to take.

Those rushing to pay fees before September 26, 2011, will save 15%, but the Patent Office will not have access to that money. The budgetary calendar resets on October 1, 2011, which marks the start of Fiscal Year 2012. While the America Invents Act does not put an end to fee diversion key Congressmen in the House of Representatives pledged that they would allow the USPTO to keep 100% of the user fees collected. Thus, presumably, fees paid starting October 1, 2011, would go to the USPTO to use for the purpose intended by the payor; namely the examination of applications and ongoing business operations of the agency.

I’m not suggesting that those who write the patent bar examination questions are testing irrelevant stuff, but what types of questions would you ask if you were writing an exam question that tried to determine whether someone who wanted to be admitted to the club understood the rules well enough to become a member? You would likely ask questions about organization rules and procedures that fell into one of several categories: (1) those that are commonly misunderstood or unknown by current members; (2) those that are of extraordinary importance due to the magnitude of harm that could accompany a misunderstanding or mistake; or (3) those things that are particularly weird. So it isn’t at all surprising that counter-intuitive rules that are commonly misunderstood or misapplied make up a statistically relevant portion of the exam.

So the point is that there is the language of the bill, and then there is what we were told was in the bill, which actually isn’t what is in the bill if you are reading the plain meaning. In the coming days President Obama will sign the bill and then the Courts will embark on the long journey to decipher the text and tell us what it means. All the while the USPTO will be proposing and then enacting new rules. Patent law, practice and procedure is in a state of flux to say the least.

The president says that’s the fault of recalcitrant Republicans in Congress. Republicans in Congress say it’s the fault of a president who is hostile to business. But the real reason we are not putting people back to work three long years into the recession is that Washington is afflicted with a totally-bipartisan cluelessness about how to create jobs.

“The ePetitions program is an instrumental part of the USPTO’s continuing efforts to expand its eCommerce capabilities and augment its ability to provide new tools and services to patent practitioners,” said Commissioner for Patents Robert Stoll. “Online filing of these specific ePetitions offers an important time saving advantage to petitioners as these submitted petitions are auto-processed and decided immediately upon receipt by the USPTO.”

The United States Senate voted 93 to 5 earlier this evening to end debate on patent reform, which should set up a vote on H.R. 1249 in the coming days. Debate on patent reform is now over in the Senate. In the coming days the Senate will vote on and almost certainly pass H.R. 1249, sending it to the White House for the signature of President Obama. The Obama Administration has lobbied hard for this patent reform and although they are not getting everything they wanted, most notably an end to the practice of fee diversion, President Obama’s signature is guaranteed.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will host a ceremonial signing Thursday for patent no. 8 million at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Acting U.S. Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank and Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO David Kappos will present the patent to Second Sight Medical Products, Inc., for a visual prosthesis apparatus that enhances visual perception for people who have gone blind due to outer retinal degeneration. Following the signing, company President and CEO Robert Greenberg will demonstrate the new product, Argus® II.

Why would we expect a new post-issuance review to work any better than the current prosecution process? Why are we to expect the Patent Office, which is certainly not equipped to handle litigation-like proceedings, could adequately and appropriately resolve issues of patentability in a post grant review proceeding when they are so horribly under-funded? Why would anyone think this is a good idea? Simply stated, the America Invents Act layers on more and more responsibility for the USPTO but without any additional funding. For years the federal government has been notoriously adept at layering unfunded mandates onto the States, but with this legislation they will layer unfunded mandates onto the USPTO; an agency that accepts absolutely no taxpayer funding.

Now, we’re about to toss it out in favor of a “first to file” bent with post grant challenges and derivation proceedings? Say what…….why? What did the statute do wrong? 8 million patents is a reasonable figure to have achieved. The US is the cross roads of the world’s technology with a statutory “negative pressure” that draws innovators and their ideas here. This country has flourished.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) today announced the designation of Iowa’s Davenport Public Library as a Patent and Trademark Resource Center (PTRC). As the 81st library in the nationwide network, Davenport marks Iowa’s return to the PTRC program and serves as the first center geared away from the “paper depository” concept towards electronic access and training for patent and trademark information.

The United States Patent Office is now offering the patent bar examination in electronic format, and that means that the way you study for the exam needs to change. In the past test takers were permitted to bring in with them any materials they wanted except for old exam questions. The ability to bring practically anything into the examination lead to people tabbing the Manual of Patent Examining Procedures, creating detailed and easy to use outlines, and bringing easy to follow flow charts and tables. Gone are these days, but when you do take the examination you will be provided with an electronic copy of the Manual of Patent Examining Procedures, so at least a part of your study needs to be centered around familiarizing yourself with search techniques and strategies that have a chance of success come exam day.

Earlier today the Department of Commerce’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) today issued U.S. Patent No. 8,000,000. The 8 million patent was issued to Second Sight Medical Products, Inc., for a visual prosthesis apparatus that enhances visual perception for people who have gone blind due to outer retinal degeneration. The invention uses electrical stimulation of the retina to produce the visual perception of patterns of light. The product – the Argus® II – is currently in U.S. clinical trials and has received marketing approval in Europe.

The Patent Bar Examination is a daunting exam, and one that has gotten a bit more difficult recently as a result of newly testable material coming online. The exam has never been easy, and likely never will be easy, but promises to get even harder in the likely event that patent reform (i.e., the America Invents Act) passes. The America Invents Act will dramatically change the fundamental underpinnings of patentability, as well as add a variety of new processes and procedures. The amount you will need to know once the America Invents Act gets tested will go up dramatically, so if you have been thinking about taking the exam it is probably a good idea to take it sooner rather than later.

Yesterday the United States Patent and Trademark Office profiled U.S. Patent No. 1,000,000, which was issued on August 8, 1911. Under the current numbering system for patents, U.S. Patent No. 1 was issued on July 13, 1836 to John Ruggles of Thomaston, Maine for his invention related to the locomotive steam engine. Therefore, it took just over 75 years to issue 1,000,000 United States patents. Today the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is poised to soon issue patent number 8,000,000, perhaps as soon as next week. Just over 5 years since U.S. Patent No. 7,000,000 issued.