Many people applying for a patent in the United States only consider filing in other countries as an afterthought. You should consider whether you want to file in foreign countries before filing a nonprovisional application...more
Just about anywhere in the world is where one may claim a patent with an international PCT patent application. There are, after all, 154 countries bound by the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). But almost no one, except...more
Patent protection outside the U.S. can be important for a company to enter the global market and to build relationships with partners and investors both domestically and internationally. In general, there are two options to...more
Two important, but sometimes overlooked issues in patent prosecution, particularly for companies with worldwide patent portfolios, are: 1) when a foreign filing license must be obtained; and 2) how to determine when an export...more
For the life science industry, patents are more than just tools for restricting the commercial activities of direct competitors. Patents are being used more and more to generate substantial additional returns on research and...more
On Wednesday, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom declared that the COVID-19 outbreak "can be characterized as a pandemic," cautioning that the WHO has "rung the alarm bell loud and clear." At the time...more
As discussed in detail in our recent article, new Canadian Patent Rules, implementing requirements of the Patent Law Treaty, will come into force on October 30, 2019. Two requirements under the new Rules warrant particular...more
Both the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Japanese Patent Office (JPO) accept a third party observation regarding validity of a patent application. In February 2012, it was announced that third party observations could be...more
A Survey of Third Party Observation Systems - Third party observations can be a cost-effective way of introducing prior art or arguments related to patentability of a published patent application. The September 2018 issue...more
This article is first in a two-part series focusing on various issues related to priority claims in U.S. patent applications. Part 1 is a general overview of how to make a proper priority claim, without addressing how to...more
In vitro gametogenesis (IVG) is a recent development in reproductive technology, and has been used for creating mouse embryos in vitro. IVG includes obtaining cells from a donor (such as skin cells), and differentiating the...more
Canada launched its Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) program a decade ago with the goal of fast-tracking patent examination and improving patent quality. Since its introduction, the PPH program has been an enormous success...more
Up to 20 claims, including three independent claims, are paid for in the standard filing fee for a US non-provisional patent application. Some clients prefer matching claims in the claim set, others prefer varied claims. ...more
In This Issue: - Tips for Developing a Cost-Effective Foreign Patent Strategy - Supreme Court Holds that Trademark Tacking Should be Decided by a Jury in Hana Financial, Inc. v. Hana Bank - Amending...more
According to a recent survey of over 100 companies and universities, nearly 93% who filed patent families in 2013 filed at least some of those patent families internationally. While obtaining patent protection abroad is...more
The United Kingdom, Japan and Norway, are all members of both the Patent Cooperation Treaty and the Paris Convention. The British Patent Office acts as the Receiving Office for the United Kingdom, the Japanese Patent Office...more
Public perception of the patent system has swung widely over the years from highs, such as those in the late nineteenth century when Mark Twain could write “a country without a patent office and good patent laws was just a...more
As noted in “Patents are of National Origin,” obtaining a patent in one country, does not give the owner of the patent worldwide protection for the invention. Instead, a patent application must be filed in or for each country...more
The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) is a program that allows applicants to leverage allowable claims in one participating office to obtain a patent faster and more efficiently for corresponding claims in another...more