5 Key Takeaways | How to Effectively Leverage the Chinese Patent System
Podcast: PTAB Changes After SAS: New Litigation Tactics & Further Changes to Come
Podcast: PTAB Update: New USPTO Director Brings Significant Changes to PTAB
Changing values of IP and data in deals
Interpartes Review: Is it Right for You?
Emerging Strategies for Protecting Global IP Rights
What the First-to-File Patent Change Means (And What IP Strategists Should Do About It)
The Corporate Law Report: First-to-File Patents, Hiring for Cultural Fit, Roth Conversions Post-Fiscal Cliff, and Global Corporate Insights
A consultation process proposing extensive reforms to the framework for design protection in the United Kingdom has come to a close on 27 November 2025. ...more
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director John Squires used Ex parte Desjardins to make a point regarding a Google DeepMind artificial intelligence (AI) patent, holding that Section 101 was not the right place to...more
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is launching the Streamlined Claim Set Pilot Program (the pilot program) to evaluate whether limiting claim number and format can reduce pendency and improve examination...more
Patent applicants are presently encountering long pendency periods, exceeding two years on the average, before the application is assigned to an examiner and begins its journey through the examination process....more
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has launched a new expedited examination pilot program: the “Streamlined Claim Set Pilot Program.” It is for certain patent applications with no more than one independent...more
Patent eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101 should be a straightforward threshold question: any “new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter” is eligible for protection. Yet over time, this once-clear...more
On Friday, October 17, 2025, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published proposed rule changes that would serve to limit the availability of patentability reviews of granted U.S. patents using the Inter...more
John A. Squires was officially confirmed by the US Senate to be the next under secretary of commerce for intellectual property and director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on September 18, 2025....more
U.S. patents are currently subject to maintenance fees paid to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) at 3.5, 7.5, and 11.5 years from the date of grant to keep the patent live. The maintenance fees escalate over the...more
John Squires, President Trump’s nominee for Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 21, his first hearing since being nominated. Squires’...more
On Friday afternoon, February 28, 2025, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a brief “bulletin” rescinding a memorandum issued by the former Director Kathy Vidal (“Vidal Memo”) providing guidance on...more
McDermott is committed to providing insightful commentary on intellectual property (IP) developments from around the world to our Japanese clients. During these sessions, a variety of speakers from McDermott’s offices in the...more
This post has been updated since its original publication date. On November 15, 2024, the US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property advanced the Inventor Diversity for Economic Advancement (IDEA) Act, one...more
The US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) reopened and extended until June 20, 2024, the period for public comment on the guidance regarding inventorship in applications involving artificial intelligence (AI) assisted...more
On February 13, 2024, the US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) issued a notice with examination guidance and request for comment regarding inventorship in applications involving artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted inventions....more
Fire up some hot cocoa, turn up the Perry Como Christmas album and settle in to read this year's Top Section 101 Patent Eligibility Stories. But, as always, this season is about gathering with family and friends, watching...more
I. Introduction - The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (“AIA”) was years in the making. From the first patent reform bill introduced by Representative Lamar Smith in June 20052 until the final House and Senate debates in...more
Kilpatrick Townsend recently held its semi-annual KTIPS (Kilpatrick Townsend Intellectual Property Seminar) in California. Firm attorneys led two days of interactive discussions with clients on the latest developments in...more
The Act’s Objectives - USPTO data indicate that as many as 80% of instituted Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) proceedings that reach a final written decision (FWD) result in the invalidation of at least one challenged...more
It's been a while since our last blog post, so let's do a quick roundup. In early April, the Solicitor General recommended that the U.S. Supreme Court hear two patent eligibility cases: 1) Interactive Wearables v. Polar...more
We have extensively covered the efforts of Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and others to reform Section 101 of the Patent Act, from draft bills to congressional hearings. And after the U.S. Supreme Court said "thanks, but no...more
Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) introduced S. 4734, entitled "A Bill to amend Title 35, U.S. Code, to address matters relating to patent subject matter eligibility, and for other purposes" last night, as was discussed in an...more
Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina has released a new proposal to reform the text of 35 U.S.C. § 101. The Senator's last effort in doing so died on the vine in 2019, purportedly due to stakeholders being too...more
The previously contemplated fee for opting out of "classical" European patents from the Unified Patent Court ("UPC") system has been abolished by the UPC Preparatory Committee. The UPC Case Management System will also allow...more
The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) allows certain qualifying entities to receive discounts on various patent fees by identifying themselves as a “small entity ” or a “micro entity.” Below, we outline the requirements...more