[co-author: Jamie Dohopolski] Love it or hate it, ignore the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) at your peril. The introduction of the PTAB as part of the America Invents Act over ten years ago has forever changed...more
Long before the AIA, declarations were a tool that was available during patent prosecution to put evidence, e.g., post-filing data and expert opinions, in front of an Examiner to rebut obviousness or lack of enablement...more
Arguably, no other provision of the America Invents Act (AIA) is more important than 35 U.S.C. § 102. It defines what activities preclude patentability and what documents are available as prior art. Applications having an...more
With the implementation of the America Invents Act and the United States moving to a first-to-file regime, there is greater time pressure to file patent applications than ever before. When patent protection in ex-US...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court finding that three patent claims were invalid under the on-sale bar but remanded two other patent claims for trial, explaining that the district court...more
Depositions are an important, yet sometimes overlooked, part of AIA proceedings, such as inter partes review (“IPR”) trial proceedings. It is important to understand that IPR depositions differ in significant ways – both in...more
We are pleased to share this Perspectives on the PTAB newsletter. Its content is directed toward providing information and analysis of the decisions made by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. We hope that this newsletter...more
On April 1, 2016, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued amended final rules that govern trials under the America Invents Act (AIA), including inter partes review, post-grant review, covered business method...more
The America Invents Act (AIA) introduced several changes to inventor oath/declaration practice that took effect in 2012. One such change is the ability to incorporate an inventor’s required declaration statements into an...more
The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) was signed into law on September 16, 2011. While the AIA alters U.S. patent practice in several ways, perhaps the most significant change brought about by the law is the switch from a...more
The transition to the first-inventor-to-file (FITF) system occurs on March 16, 2013. To prepare for implementing the change to the FITF system, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), on February 14, 2013,...more
President Obama signed into law H.R. 6621 on January 14, 2013, enacting a number of technical corrections to the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act and title 35, United States Code. In addition to correcting a number of...more