USPTO Leadership -
..Drew Hirshfeld is still performing the functions and duties of Director. Kathi Vidal, the Biden Administration’s nominee to be the next Director, testified at the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing...more
USPTO Leadership -
..Drew Hirshfeld is still performing the functions and duties of Director. Kathi Vidal, the Biden Administration’s nominee to be the next Director, testified at the Senate Judiciary...more
12/10/2021
/ Final Rules ,
Patent Fees ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Presidential Nominations ,
Proposed Rules ,
Request for Examination ,
Senate Confirmation Hearings ,
Trademark Modernization Act (TMA) ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO
USPTO News -
..On October 26, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Kathi Vidal, the managing partner of Winston and Strawn’s Silicon Valley office, as the next Under Secretary for Intellectual Property and Director of the...more
11/2/2021
/ Administrative Appointments ,
Final Rules ,
International Trademark Protection ,
Notice and Comment ,
OMB ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Presidential Nominations ,
Severe Weather ,
Trademark Registration ,
USPTO
USPTO News -
On September 9, 2021, Senators Patrick Leahy and Thom Tillis wrote a letter to Acting Director Andrew Hirshfeld requesting that the USPTO “take steps to reduce patent applicants’ making inappropriate...more
10/5/2021
/ America Invents Act ,
Comment Period ,
Executive Orders ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Interim Rule ,
Patent Applications ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Petition for Review ,
Proposed Legislation ,
USPTO
USPTO Leadership -
..Drew Hirshfeld is still performing the functions and duties of Director. The Biden Administration has not made an announcement as to who will be nominated to become the next Director. ...more
9/9/2021
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
America Invents Act ,
Biologics ,
Claim Construction ,
Fraud ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Orange Book ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Post-Grant Review ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO
USPTO Leadership -
..Drew Hirshfeld is still performing the functions and duties of Director. The Biden Administration has not made an announcement as to who will be nominated to become the next Director....more
8/18/2021
/ Administrative Patent Judges ,
Administrative Procedure ,
Final Rules ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Proposed Legislation ,
PTAB Precedential Opinion Panel (POP) ,
Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (TMEP) ,
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ,
Trademarks ,
United States v Arthrex Inc ,
USPTO
USPTO Leadership -
..Drew Hirshfeld is still performing the functions and duties of Director. The Biden Administration has not made an announcement as to who will be nominated to become the next Director....more
USPTO Leadership -
..Drew Hirshfeld is still performing the functions and duties of Director. No announcement from the Biden Administration as to who will be nominated to become the next Director.
IP Toolkit -...more
USPTO News -
USPTO announced a new category for its Patents for Humanity Program for inventors of technology to track, prevent, diagnose, or treat COVID-19....more
5/14/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Fast Track Process ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Post-Grant Review ,
Trademark Modernization Act (TMA) ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO
Notices, Guidance and Requests -
..Administrative Updates to the General Requirements Bulletin for Admission to the Examination for Registration to Practice in Patent Cases, 86 Fed. Reg. 54 (March 23, 2021) [Written...more
USPTO News -
..Administrative Patent Judges Michael Cygan and Kristi L. R. Sawert, and Patent Attorney Thomas Volper discussed the one-year ex parte appeal, Fast-Track Appeals Pilot Program, and what happens after PTAB...more
3/2/2021
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Appeals ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Counterfeiting ,
Fast Track Process ,
Japan Patent Office ,
Korea ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Trademark Modernization Act (TMA) ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO
USPTO Director Andrei Iancu and Deputy Director Laura Peter resigned from their respective posts prior to inauguration day. Commissioner for Patents Drew Hirschfeld and Senior Counsel Coke Morgan Stewart are temporarily...more
2/2/2021
/ Administrative Resignation ,
America Invents Act ,
E-Commerce ,
Filing Fees ,
Information Reports ,
International Trade Commission (ITC) ,
New Guidance ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Public Comment ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO
USPTO News -
..David Berdan has been appointed USPTO’s General Counsel. As General Counsel, Mr. Berdan will serve as the principal legal advisor to the Director. He will also supervise the Office of General Counsel and...more
USPTO News -
..USPTO releases report on artificial intelligence and intellectual property policy.
..Mary Critharis has been appointed the USPTO’s Acting Chief Policy Officer and Director for International Affairs. Ms....more
11/3/2020
/ Continuing Legal Education ,
Domain Name Registration ,
Final Rules ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Proposed Rules ,
Trademark Examination Guide ,
Trademarks ,
United States Patent and Trademark Office v Booking.com BV ,
USPTO ,
World Intellectual Property Organisation
USPTO News -
..USPTO launches National Council for Expanding American Innovation (NCEAI)
..The PTAB has added an online form to the USPTO website that allows any member of the public to nominate any PTAB decision for...more
On December 20, 2019, the Precedential Opinion Panel (POP) of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) issued its decision in IPR2018-01039, addressing “What is required for a petitioner to establish that an asserted...more
1/13/2020
/ Administrative Appeals ,
Final Written Decisions ,
Hulu ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Obviousness ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Pleading Standards ,
Precedential Opinion ,
Preponderance of the Evidence ,
Printed Publications ,
Prior Art ,
PTAB Precedential Opinion Panel (POP) ,
Totality of Evidence
An important set of factors the Patent Trial and Appeal Board considers when deciding whether to institute inter partes review concerns the filing of multiple petitions challenging the same patent. Part I of this two-part...more
In view of the increasing number of petitions for inter partes review filed before the Patent and Trial Appeal Board since its inception more than six years ago, the PTAB has increased its scrutiny of so-called “serial”...more
On February 7, 2019, in Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, the Federal Circuit dismissed an appeal brought by a petitioner in an inter partes review (IPR) for lack of standing and mootness because...more
2/13/2019
/ Article III ,
Biosimilars ,
Bristol-Myers Squibb ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
Momenta ,
Mootness ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Pharmaceutical Patents ,
Standing
The legal landscape for the automotive sector continued its evolution in 2018 with the development of new technology becoming a focal point for litigation, patenting and regulation. As we did at the close of 2017, we look...more
1/16/2019
/ Automotive Industry ,
Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) ,
Design Patent ,
Driverless Cars ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Post-Grant Review ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Technology ,
Trade Secrets
The USPTO has issued updated guidance for examiners and administrative patent judges (APJs) relating to subject matter eligibility under 35 U.S.C. 101 and examining computer-implemented functional claim limitations under 35...more
1/11/2019
/ Abstract Ideas ,
Administrative Patent Judges ,
Alice Corporation ,
Claim Construction ,
Computer-Related Inventions ,
Guidance Update ,
Mayo v. Prometheus ,
Means-Plus-Function ,
Patent-Eligible Subject Matter ,
Patents ,
Section 101 ,
USPTO
This is the second in a series of five articles written by WilmerHale discussing how the emergence of IoT technologies will impact the automotive industry. The first article, ‘‘The Developing Landscape of Internet of Things...more
11/21/2018
/ Automotive Industry ,
CLS Bank v Alice Corp ,
Connected Cars ,
Data Collection ,
Data-Sharing ,
Drivers ,
Innovation ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Internet of Things ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent-Eligible Subject Matter ,
Patents ,
Technology Sector ,
Transportation Industry
On August 13, the Patent Trials and Appeal Board (PTAB or Board) published updates to the AIA Trial Practice Guide (the TPG Update). The TPG Update is a supplement to the original Trial Practice Guide (TPG), which the PTAB...more
On October 3, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) completed its review of the US Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) proposed new rule regarding changing the claim construction standard applied in...more
Six years after the America Invents Act created inter partes review proceedings, patent disputes increasingly involve parallel litigation, with at least one inter partes review proceeding in tandem with district court...more