Posts Tagged: RCE
USPTO Petition Process: Who Should Pay for the Burden of Inordinate Delays and ‘Mistakes’?
In our last article, Part VI, we reported significant Technology Center (TC)-to-TC variation at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in pendency and grant …
After Final Consideration Pilot Program 2.0 Extended by USPTO
The United States Patent and Trademark Office has announced that the After Final Consideration Pilot 2.0 (AFCP 2.0) has been extended to September 30, 2020. AFCP 2.0 is part of our ongoing …
Winning Strategies for Getting Past the Five Types of Patent Examiner
Any patent attorney knows that each patent examiner can vary greatly in approach to examination. In this article, five different types of patent examiners and suggest prosecution …
How to Respond to a § 102 Rejection
Section 102 rejections are very common at the USPTO and you are likely to get one no matter what kind of technologies you work with. Fortunately, they are …
§ 101 Rejections in the Post-Alice Era
The § 101 rejection rate for patent applications in the e-commerce work groups approaches 100%, then drops precipitously for the remaining seven of the top ten work groups with the …
Patent Prosecution 101: Understanding Patent Examiner Rejections
Unlike certain rejections one faces in life, a rejection from a patent examiner is never the end of the story, and definitely not final – even when the …
A Pre-Appeal Brief Conference is a Winning Strategy, Even if it Probably Won’t Lead to Allowance
After several articles and webinars discussing appeals outcomes at the USPTO, we have received numerous requests for Pre-Appeal Brief Conference data to explain how advantageous the program …
Don’t Wait to File a Track One Request if You Think You Might Need It
The Track One program was instituted on September 23, 2011, as part of the America Invents Act. Known officially as the “Prioritized Patent Examination Program,” the USPTO promises a …
Is that Next RCE Really Going to Work?
Knowing when to give up on a patent application is one of the most critical questions facing for any patent applicant… When faced with the decision regarding …
Strategic Uses of New USPTO Initiatives and Procedures: How to Improve Prosecution Expediency
As is evident from Figure 2, a significant problem affecting USPTO performance has been identified as the Request for Continued Examination (RCE) Backlog, which grow dramatically from 2009 into 2013. …
An Overview of the U.S. Patent Process
The first time you will substantively hear from the examiner is when the examiner issues what is referred to as a First Office Action on the Merits (…
Novartis v. Lee: The Unfortunate and Unintended Impact of the PTA Statute on Continuation Practice
In Novartis, this Federal Circuit panel (opinion by Judge Taranto, joined by Judges Newman and Dyk) ruled that the second exclusion from PTA in the “B period” …
USPTO Modifies After Final Amendment Pilot Program
Last week the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced in the Federal Register that it would modified the After Final Consideration Pilot Program (AFCP) to …
Will the USPTO Outreach Fix the RCE Backlog?
The problem of the RCE backlog is a function of the prosecution dynamic and lack of meaningful oversight into areas where RCEs are common and patents issue …
The RCE Backlog: A Critical Patent Office Problem
The backlog of unexamined patent applications was down over 15.1% in September 2012, compared with October 2010. At the same time, however, the number of unexamined RCE filings grew 95.56%, after …
