Protecting the Little Guy… or Bad Patents?
The USPTO is considering modifications to the rules for inter partes review (IPR) and post grant review (PGR) proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). Ostensibly this is…
Deferred Subject Matter Eligibility Program
The USPTO is implementing a pilot program called the Deferred Subject Matter Eligibility response.The point of the program is to defer the whole question of subject matter eligibility until a…
Appealing Patent Decisions- How likely are they to be reversed?
Over the last 5 years (FY 2017-2021) about 61 percent of the cases at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) concern patents. There are three sources for…
Update on IPRs
An Inter Partes Review is a proceeding before the USPTO, which allows third parties to challenge the validity of the claims of an issued patent without going into federal court.…
US v Arthrex
In US v Arthrex, 2021 US Lexis 3123, the Supreme Court found that PTAB (Patent Trial and Appeals Board) should have been nominated by the President and confirmed by the…
Submitting Patent Apps in DOCX Format
Beginning the first of 2022, the USPTO will require submitting patent apps in the docx format. Well, technically not quite true- apps will still be accepted in pdf format but…
New Trademark and TTAB Fee Schedule Effective January 2, 2021
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…
PATENT OFFICE CATCHING UP ON PTAB APPEALS
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…
2020 UPDATE ON PATENT OFFICE APPEALS
Patexia is a terrific resource for statistics regarding intellectual property. Earlier this week Patexia reported that there has been a 20% drop in IPR (Inter-Partes Review) petitions since 2019. Their 4th Annual…
USPTO FEES GOING UP OCTOBER 2ND
Fees are going up by an average of about 5%. Basic out-of-pocket costs for filing a utility application will go up to $910 for a small entity, and half that…