Posts Tagged: "Thomas Moga"

Even with the discretionary substantive examination in a utility model patent application, they are generally much easier to obtain and much cheaper to get. There may also be advantages to utility model patents in China. While the fact that they are not substantively examined might make it seem that they would be easier to invalidate, that isn’t the case in reality. Under the Chinese system a maximum of 2 references can be used to fashion an obviousness rejection. “In our industry there is rarely a silver bullet,” Moga explained. It is certainly true that obviousness is the real hurdle to patentability and it is extremely common to see obviousness rejections in the U.S. that weave 3 or more references together to provide the foundation for an obviousness rejection.