The USPTO has issued a Federal Register Notice soliciting comments on “proposed initiatives directed at bolstering the robustness and reliability of patents to incentivize and protect new and nonobvious inventions while...more
The USPTO has commenced a fee-setting process for fee adjustments it expects to implement in January 2021. While many fee changes are modest (~5%), the USPTO proposes significant increases to patent trial fees and two new...more
As part of its ongoing efforts to improve patent quality, the USPTO is reevaluating its examination time goals and seeking public feedback on how much time examiners should have to examine a patent application. Examination...more
The USPTO has published a proposed fee schedule for patent fees likely to take effect October 1, 2017–the start of the USPTO’s next fiscal year. The proposed fee schedule makes “slight” changes to many fees, and more...more
The USPTO is seeking input on how it can leverage prior art information available on-line in related patent applications in order to “improve patent examination quality and efficiency” and reduce “applicant’s burden to...more
As announced in a February 5, 2015 Federal Register Notice, the USPTO is launching an enhanced quality initiative that includes a request for public comment on certain proposals and a two-day “Quality Summit” to be held March...more
In a Federal Register Notice dated November 12, 2014, the USPTO solicited public comments on the “use of crowdsourcing to identify relevant prior art,” and announced a related roundtable to be held on December 2, 2014 at the...more
This week brings the July 31, 2014 deadline for submitting written comments on two USPTO patent subject matter eligibility guidance documents: The “Myriad-Mayo” Guidance issued March 4, 2014 (for claims involving laws of...more
The USPTO is requesting input on the “optimal” targets for its patent application pendency metrics. The USPTO’s current targets are 10 months to a first Office Action and 20 months to grant or abandonment. The USPTO wants to...more
The USPTO’s ”Guidance For Determining Subject Matter Eligibility Of Claims Reciting Or Involving Laws of Nature, Natural Phenomena, and Natural Products” has been criticized for requiring a product to be markedly different in...more
In a June 30, 2014 Federal Register notice, the USPTO requested public comments by July 31, 2014 on patent subject matter eligibility under the recent Supreme Court decision in Alice Corporation Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank...more
The USPTO has published proposed rules for calculating Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) for applications in which a Request for Continued Examination (RCE) has been filed, after the Federal Circuit held in Novartis v. Lee that...more
On May 9, 2014, the USPTO hosted a forum to receive public feedback on the patent subject matter eligibility guidance for examiners circulated on March 4, 2014. The USPTO heard formal presentations from ten speakers...more
Well, it’s happening. Office Actions with new patent eligibility rejections based on the USPTO’s March 4, 2014 Guidance are being mailed out to patent practitioners across the nation. While some new rejections under §101 were...more