Monthly Minute | Design Patents
Effective May 13, 2025, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will implement a significant change to its patent issuance process, substantially reducing the time between issue notification and patent issuance....more
Under the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) modernization efforts, the time between paying the issue fee and issuance of the patent is being reduced. Faster patent issuance gives patent applicants less time...more
On 19 January 2025 the USPTO enacted a new Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) size fee. A new IDS size fee, codified under 37 C.F.R. 1.17(v), is accrued for any pending application when the number of cumulative references...more
The advice to practitioners faced with marginally relevant prior art has long been "when in doubt, cite it." There was a small cost for the applicant (or practitioner) to cite such art by filing an information disclosure...more
The United States and Australia each offer the option of filing a provisional patent application before filing a national or PCT non-provisional patent application. The U.S. provisional patent system and the Australian...more