The Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (BPTO) approved phase II of its Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) program, which commenced on January 1, 2021.  The PPH program is a bilateral agreement…

In late December, 2020, the Consolidated Appropriations Act established the Copyright Claims Board (CCB).  In simple terms, the CCB is like a small claims court for copyright cases. It gives…

Several trademark fees have increased starting January 2nd. The most notable fee increases are: (1) TEAS standard filing fee is increased from $275 to $350, (2) Combined §8 and §15 declarations from…

While China is becoming an increasingly attractive patent filing destination for foreign companies, foreign counsels are often confused by the country’s inventive step requirement. Indeed, Chinese patent examiners often use…

False marking (as distinguished from false marketing) occurs when a product is falsely labeled as falling within the scope of an enforceable patent.  False marking likely occurs in three ways:…

Have you ever wanted to get federal copyright protection on a whole group of your best hot-take tweets? Well, now you can! The U.S. Copyright Office has created a new…

Wow, fascinating issue, this one.  For now the short answer is a simple "no", and several patent offices across the globe have already ruled that AI machines cannot be regarded…

We have some new Patent Beast Comics up. This short series is a riff on how clients might be assigned to the right attorney for them based on how they…

Although the length of time that PTAB appeals are pending has only gone down slightly over the last three years, the number of new appeals has steadily declined.  This seems to…

Provisional applications in the US only last one year.  If no utility or international application is filed during that one-year window, a provisional goes abandoned, and cannot be used to…