News & Analysis as of

Patents Administrative Procedure United States Patent and Trademark Office

Jones Day

PTAB Announces a Bifurcated Process for Consideration of IPR and PGR Petitions

Jones Day on

A new interim process for the acting director to exercise discretion as to whether to institute an inter partes review ("IPR") or a post-grant review ("PGR") was announced on March 26, 2025, in which discretionary...more

Latham & Watkins LLP

USPTO Implements Interim Procedures Bifurcating Decisions to Institute AIA Trials

Latham & Watkins LLP on

On March 26, 2025, Acting Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Coke Morgan Stewart issued a memorandum (the Workload Memorandum) to all Administrative Patent Judges (APJs) of the Patent Trial and...more

Fish & Richardson

EPRx 101: Getting to Know Ex Parte Reexamination

Fish & Richardson on

Ex parte reexamination (EPRx) is a powerful tool that allows any party — including the patent owner — to request that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) reassess the validity of an issued patent based on...more

BCLP

Patent Office Withdraws Previous Discretionary Denial Guidance for Post-Grant Proceedings

BCLP on

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 Will & Emery

An Odyssey of Timeliness: Appointments Clause Arguments Must Be Preserved

McDermott Will & Emery on

Citing forfeiture, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the dismissal of a complaint against the US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO). The complaint sought director review of a 2018 Patent Trial & Appeal Board...more

ArentFox Schiff

Navigating Changes at the USPTO: Impact of New Government Cost-Reduction Initiatives

ArentFox Schiff on

The new presidential Administration’s cost-reduction initiatives, including a hiring freeze and return-to-office mandate for federal employees, are poised to impact the efficiency of the US Patent and Trademark Office...more

Fish & Richardson

Recapping a Busy Summer for Director Review

Fish & Richardson on

United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director Kathi Vidal had a busy end to her summer, issuing six decisions as part of the Director Review process between July 10 and August 22. In the six decisions, the...more

Fish & Richardson

How the Timing of Director Review May Affect Co-Pending Litigation

Fish & Richardson on

Director Review at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) remains a hot topic in patent law. The Director first established an interim process for Director Review in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2021 decision in United...more

Fish & Richardson

USPTO Issues Proposed Rules on Discretionary Denial in PTAB Proceedings

Fish & Richardson on

One year ago, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) that set forth several ideas related to America Invents Act (AIA) proceedings before the Patent Trial...more

WilmerHale

PTAB/USPTO Update - August 2023

WilmerHale on

USPTO News - On July 11, the USPTO Office of the Chief Economist released the 2022 updates to its Trademark Case Files Dataset and Trademark Assignment Dataset....more

Womble Bond Dickinson

USPTO to Provide Patent Grants Electronically - What Patent Applicants Need to Know

Womble Bond Dickinson on

Once a patent Applicant pays an issue fee after receiving a notice of allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), an issue notification follows shortly thereafter. The issue notification provides the...more

Goodwin

USPTO Doubles Down Calling Out Pharmaceutical Industry

Goodwin on

​​​​​​​The new Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Katherine Vidal, published a stern reminder regarding the duties of disclosure and reasonable inquiry during examination of a patent application,...more

Womble Bond Dickinson

USPTO Announces New Interim Process for PTAB Decision Circulation and Internal Review

Womble Bond Dickinson on

On May 26, 2022, the USPTO announced its interim process for PTAB decision circulation and internal PTAB review in hopes of further promoting “consistent, clear, and open decision-making.” This interim process models the...more

Jones Day

Legislation: Restoring the America Invents Act

Jones Day on

On Wednesday, September 29, 2021, Senators Patrick Leahy (D) and John Cornyn (R) introduced the Restoring the America Invents Act, a bill that would modify Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) procedures and facilitate...more

Haug Partners LLP

Changes to the Rules of Ethics for Patent Law Practitioners

Haug Partners LLP on

On May 26, 2021, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) finalized the amendments to the Rules of Practice in Patent Cases as well as the rules regarding Representation of Others before the United States...more

WilmerHale

PTAB/USPTO Update - August 2021

WilmerHale on

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

Morgan Lewis

Reissue

Morgan Lewis on

A reissue application may be filed by a patent owner to correct an error in a patent. Reissue applications are useful to correct substantive errors that cannot be corrected with a certificate of correction. ...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Supreme Court to Decide Constitutionality of PTAB Judge Appointments

The Supreme Court granted and consolidated three petitions for writs of certiorari to hear two questions regarding the constitutionality of Administrative Patent Judge (APJ) appointments under the Appointments Clause.  These...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

"Creativity Machine" Cannot Be Named As Inventor

In a Decision on Petition issued in April, and signed by Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy Robert W. Bahr, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office refused to vacate a Notice to File Missing Parts of...more

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C.

PTAB Strategies and Insights - July 2020

The PTAB Strategies and Insights newsletter provides timely updates and insights into how best to handle proceedings at the USPTO. It is designed to increase return on investment for all stakeholders looking at the entire...more

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C.

Patent Prosecution Tool Kit: Patent Term Extension

Patent term extension (PTE) is available under the 1984 Drug Price Competition and Patent Restoration Act, also known as the Hatch-Waxman Act (The Act). The Act allows the extension of the term of a patent claiming a product...more

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C.

Patent Prosecution Tool Kit: Patent Term Adjustment

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 (PTO) in issuing a patent....more

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C.

Patent Prosecution Tool Kit: Information Disclosure: Avoiding Common Pitfalls

An essential part of U.S. patent prosecution is the duty of disclosure, which requires the disclosure of all known information that is material to patentability. 37 C.F.R. § 1.56....more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

USPTO Announces Further Extension of Certain Patent Deadlines

In a notice posted on its website last week, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that it was further extending the time to file certain patent-related documents and to pay certain required fees....more

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C.

USPTO Due Date Extension Available Amid COVID-19 Outbreak

As the COVID-19 outbreak affects the daily lives and businesses of patent and brand owners in the United States, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a notice of waiver of certain deadlines....more

65 Results
 / 
View per page
Page: of 3

"My best business intelligence, in one easy email…"

Your first step to building a free, personalized, morning email brief covering pertinent authors and topics on JD Supra:
*By using the service, you signify your acceptance of JD Supra's Privacy Policy.
- hide
- hide