Wolf Greenfield Attorneys Preview What’s Ahead in 2024
Canada has implemented a Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) system to account for unreasonable delays by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) in issuing a patent. The PTA system effectively comes into force today, with...more
In the United States, medical device regulation and intellectual property (IP) protection are governed by complex statutory and regulatory frameworks that are distinct from—but closely related to, and in some cases...more
In this debut episode of Wait, what?, veteran patent attorneys Laura Gordon and Stephanie Lodise unravel the deceptively tricky world of Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) timing. Just because the USPTO says you can file...more
In 1999, Congress created a system of patent term adjustment (PTA) that adds additional time to patent terms to remedy certain delays caused by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in issuing a patent. Why Review...more
35 U.S.C. § 101 precludes a patentee from obtaining more than one patent on the same invention. Courts have extended this prohibition “to preclude a second patent on an invention which ‘would have been obvious from the...more
Intellectual property (IP) strategy in the life sciences evolves as rapidly as the scientific breakthroughs driving the industry. Since the America Invents Act reshaped the U.S. patent system more than a decade ago, courts...more
Faster office actions, improved prior art searches, and a more consistent application of the law — these will be hallmarks of the future of patent examination at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) due to increased...more
As noted in the first article in our Medtech Coming to America series, “US Emerging as Top Global Medtech Destination,” perceived regulatory advantages are prompting European medtechs to enter the US market earlier in their...more
Reissue applications represent a very small fraction of the total number of applications filed at the USPTO each year. Indeed, at the midpoint of 2025, over 1.2 million utility applications have been filed, with less than 300...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 April 15, 2025, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) informed the public that, effective May 13, 2025, the USPTO will be accelerating the process for issuing patents. Currently, the time between Issue...more
What You Need to Know: • Instead of filing multiple applications claiming different aspects of an invention but not sharing a single priority chain, patentees should strive to file highly comprehensive applications that...more
Before the USPTO was subject to a hiring freeze, it assumed it would onboard 400 new examiners between fiscal year 2025 and fiscal year 2026, and still predicted an increase in the backlog of unexamined patent applications....more
This Article analyzes over 89,000 patents litigated over a twenty-year period to determine how the number of office actions to allowance during prosecution impacts rates of invalidity during subsequent litigation. Many...more
Under U.S. law, most patents are limited to a term of 20 years from the earliest nonprovisional filing date. However, Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) and Patent Term Extension (PTE) can be used in certain circumstances to gain...more
Unity of invention and double patenting law and practice in Canada can create challenges for patent applicants. For example, applicants may not expect a unity of invention objection to be raised, requiring claims to be...more
2024 was an active year in Canadian patent law, with the Federal Court issuing several decisions on the merits regarding invalidity and/or infringement. The courts also considered issues of the regulation of patent agents,...more
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO") raised patent fees and introduced new surcharges....more
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has announced changes to patent fees, which will take effect on Jan 19, 2025. Most current fees are subject to a 7.5% across-the-board increase while other fees are...more
For branded drugmakers, the development of a pharmaceutical product approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) all but assures generic competition. As discussed during the first installment of our Hatch-Waxman series,...more
In 2024, the Rx IP Update team at Smart & Biggar reported on a number of developments in Canadian life sciences IP and regulatory law. Highlights from 2024 are below; see also our top ten Rx IP Update reads of 2024....more
As 2025 begins and intellectual property (IP) strategies are being developed for the new year, it is a good time to reflect on what IP issues were prominent in 2024. According to many readers, hot IP topics included...more
On January 1, 2025, Canada will implement a patent term adjustment (PTA) system to account for unreasonable delays by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) in issuing a patent. The final regulations were published...more
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a “final rule” to fee adjustments for patent applications and appeals, effective January 19, 2025. These changes represent some of the most significant changes to the...more