Patent Law

USPTO Announces PCT Fee Increase

Posted on November 13, 2008
Yesterday, the USPTO announced that it is revising its rules of practice to adjust Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) transmittal and search fees. As summarized in the USPTO announcement and provided in detail within the Federal Register (links below), the PCT transmittal fee (37 C...

WIPO Member States Conclude Copyright Conference

Posted on November 11, 2008
On November 2-7, 2008, member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (?WIPO?) met to discuss several copyright issues pertinent to its members. As referenced within the WIPO press release (link below), conference issues included ?Limitations and Exceptions: Access for Visually Impaired People? (acknowledging ?the special needs of disabled persons (including the blind, visually impaired and other reading-disabled persons) and stress[ing] the importance of addressing those needs?), ?Audiovisual Performances? (where member states expressed ?their commitment to develop the international protection of performers in their audiovisual performances?), and ?Broadcasting Organizations? (including ?discussions on the protection of broadcasting organizations with a view to concluding an international instrument?)...

26th Trilateral Conference - Nov. 10-14, 2008

Posted on November 10, 2008
The 26th Trilateral Conference will take place in The Hague this week, where representatives of the U.S., European, and Japanese patent offices will meet to further formalize their efforts regarding patent prosecution cooperation. According to the European Patent Office ("EPO") press release (link below), "one of the main aims of the cooperation is to help inventors protect their inventions in several parts of the world, while reducing processing times through integrated patent infrastructure," with key meeting objectives including increased work sharing for PCT patent applications, the potential launch of a Patent Prosecution Highway between the EPO and the Japanese Patent Office, efforts to prioritize work on first filings, and the harmonization and sharing of "e-learning tools" among these three patent offices...

?Barack,? ?Obama,? and the USPTO

Posted on November 06, 2008
After such an exciting election, I thought I?d have some fun with a blog post and highlight a few attempts to register trademarks pertaining to our President-elect that, for reasons shown below, were unsuccessful:?BARACK STAR? ? U.S. Trademark Application Serial No...

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IP Australia added as USPTO ISA

Posted on November 04, 2008
On October 31st, Jon Dudas, the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and the Director of the USPTO, announced that IP Australia, the Australian national patent office, will function as an International Searching Authority (ISA) under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) for certain types of international patent applications for the USPTO as of November 1st...

CAFC Decides In re Bilski

Posted on October 31, 2008
Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit handed down its long-awaited decision in In re Bilski to help clarify the appropriate test to determine whether or not certain types of inventions may be patentable subject matter under 35 U...

Impact of the PRO-IP Act on Copyright Law

Posted on October 29, 2008
The U.S. Copyright Office recently highlighted a number of sections of the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act (the ?PRO-IP Act?) and their impact on the U.S. Copyright Act. As noted within the Copyright Office announcement (link below), the PRO-IP Act amends Section 410 of the Copyright Act to codify the doctrine of fraud on the Copyright Office during the copyright registration process...

DKPTO Joins USPTO PPH Effort

Posted on October 27, 2008
The USPTO recently announced that it has added the Danish Patent and Trademark Office (DKPTO) to its Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) program. As noted in the USPTO announcement (link below), the DKPTO joins the Japan Patent Office, the United Kingdom Patent Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office, the Korean Intellectual Property Office, IP Australia, and the European Patent Office as PPH program members...

KIPO Becomes Third USPTO Document Exchange Participant

Posted on October 22, 2008
Last week, the USPTO announced that it has added the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) as the third participating foreign intellectual property office in its direct priority document exchange program. The KIPO, added as of October 14, 2008, joins the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Japan Patent Office (JPO) as current program participants...

EPO Adds New Online Training Courses

Posted on October 20, 2008
The European Patent Office (EPO) recently announced that it has added to its online course offerings to broaden the scope of information publicly available to IP practitioners and those interested in the field. As referenced within the EPO announcement (link below), four new courses have been added, including those related to identifying Chinese patent documents online and obtaining full-text patent documents via EP4Weeks, with these and others being held within the next two months...

WIPO Adds Courses to its Distance Learning Program

Posted on October 14, 2008
Last week, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) announced that, through its Worldwide Academy, it was adding five new courses to its widely used distance learning program. According to the WIPO press release (link below), the five new courses cover arbitration/mediation procedure, general patenting, patent searches, basic patent drafting, and trademarks...

USPTO Warns Customers Regarding Unsolicited Third-Party Communications

Posted on October 09, 2008
The USPTO recently issued a warning to its trademark customers regarding ?unsolicited communications? they may receive by companies offering trademark monitoring and document filing services. As noted within the USPTO warning (link below), ?solicitations from these companies frequently display customer-specific information, including USPTO serial number or registration number and owner name,? but the companies who offer these services ?are not affiliated or associated with the USPTO or any other federal agency...

USPTO Starts Trademark Consistency Initiative

Posted on October 08, 2008
Last week the USPTO announced a measure to improve trademark quality by providing a mechanism for trademark applicants to alert the trademark office as to potential inconsistencies among the applicant?s trademark portfolio. This new procedure begins with the submission of a Request for Consistency Review, when, according to the USPTO announcement (link below), ?a substantive or procedural issue (excluding any issues involving identifications of goods and services) has been addressed in a significantly different manner in different cases, subject to the following provisions: (1) the request is based on co-pending applications or an application and a registration owned by the same legal entity or a successor in interest (e...

The Federal Circuit Holds that Improper Revival of Patent Applications is Beyond Judicial Review

Posted on October 06, 2008
By Jay Gordon TaylorIn an artful job of issue dodging and a narrowly focused reading of the Patent Act, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) has dodged the key issue in Aristocrat Technologies Australia PTY Ldt. v. International Gaming Technology, i...

DDIP Tidbits ? 10/01/2008

Posted on October 01, 2008
1. On Monday, President Bush honored the 2007 recipients of the National Medal of Science and the National Medal of Technology & Innovation at the White House in a program broadcast live via the White House website. The award recipients included six individuals and two companies, and involved inventions ranging from packet-switched communication networks to hereditary metabolic disorders to global entrepreneurship...

WIPO Appoints New Director General

Posted on September 26, 2008
On September 22, 2008, Francis Gurry was unanimously appointed by the 184 member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) as the organization?s newest Director General. According to the WIPO press release (link below), this appointment promoted Gurry from his then-current position of Deputy Director General, his then-highest position in his 23 year tenure with WIPO...

USPTO and KIPO sign MOU

Posted on September 25, 2008
Yesterday the USPTO announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) regarding a more comprehensive cooperation on patent examination. This agreement, signed on September 23rd, focuses on the sharing of work between the two patent offices whereby each office can use the results of the other office for its own patent application examination...

USPTO Hosting IT Security Expo

Posted on September 23, 2008
This Wednesday, September 24, 2008, the USPTO will be hosting its Information Technology (IT) Security Expo at the main USPTO campus in Alexandria, Virginia. According to the USPTO press release (link below), there will be 3 speakers and over 30 IT software and hardware vendors to provide attendees with ?ideas and information that can be critical to both business and personal computer use...

DDIP Tidbits ? 9/22/2008

Posted on September 22, 2008
1. The USPTO has formally acknowledged the impact of Hurricane Gustav (in Louisiana and Texas) and Hurricane Ike (in Florida, Louisiana, and Texas) as a postal service interruption and emergency within the meaning of 35 U.S.C. § 21(a) and 37 C.F.R. § 1...

Australia to Become 9th Country to allow Korean Searches

Posted on September 18, 2008
As recently jointly announced by IP Australia and the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), Australia will become the 9th national patent office to allow its applicants to select the KIPO as the International Search Authority (ISA) for PCT patent applications...

So? What Does It All Really Mean?

Posted on September 17, 2008
If you have recently accessed or attempted to access Private PAIR through the USPTO, you were required to check a box next to the following statement in order to proceed through the system:I understand that technology and/or software included in patent applications may be subject to U...

EPO Patent Statistics Conference Presentations Now Available Online

Posted on September 16, 2008
On September 3 and 4, 2008, the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) hosted a conference to discuss recent advances in the analysis of innovation regarding patent statistics. As noted within the original conference description (first link below), the conference ?aims at gathering original analytical investigations that build on recent data and address relevant questions for companies and policy makers including valuation of patents, patenting strategies, the links between technology and markets, patenting activity by universities and entrepreneurship...

USPTO New Fee Schedule Effective October 2, 2008

Posted on September 12, 2008
The USPTO has released its fee schedule to take effect on October 2, 2008, which will supersede the current fee schedule last updated on August 1, 2008. The following list contains some (but not all) of the fee changes. A complete listing of the new fees is provided in the link below...

Official Gazette ? Week #37

Posted on September 11, 2008
The September 9, 2008 Official Gazette (Week #37) was published this week, including a number of the following recurring topics (Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) Information, Notice of Maintenance Fees Payable, Notice of Expiration of Patents Due to Failure to Pay Maintenance Fee, Patents Reinstated Due to the Acceptance of a Late Maintenance Fee from 08/11/2008, Reissue Applications Filed, Requests for Ex Parte Reexamination Filed, etc...

WIPO Free Publications List

Posted on September 10, 2008
While searching the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) for a new blog article topic, I came across a resource previously unknown to me, namely the WIPO free publications list. Although I have blogged several times on free WIPO seminar reference documentation, I was unaware that a separate list of publications targeting various audiences is available to the public free of charge...

DDIP Tidbits ? 9/9/2008

Posted on September 09, 2008
1. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) recently released its 2008 edition of the World Patent Report. This Report, based upon cumulative 2006 data, includes statistics regarding total patent grants by patent office and by country of origin, resident and non-resident patent filings and granted patents, and emerging country patent filings and patent grants, among others...

DDIP "Makeover" Complete

Posted on September 08, 2008
Welcome to the "new" DDIP, complete with updated functionality and a fresh new look. Aside from regularly posted content providing you with updates regarding patent, trademark, copyright, and related intellectual property law information, the DDIP blog now offers additional resource functionality using the links and search boxes on the left-hand column of the blog, including the following:Patent information: DDIP blog readers may search U...

DDIP is Getting a Makeover!

Posted on August 21, 2008
Over the last few days I have started my work on the DDIP Blog "makeover" to provide additional functionality, reference materials, and an updated appearance. As such, please look forward to the "new" DDIP blog beginning Monday, September 8th!

?Portrait Gallery? Exhibit Opens at USPTO Museum

Posted on August 11, 2008
As referenced within a recent USPTO announcement (link below), the USPTO Museum has unveiled a new exhibit called ?Portrait Gallery? that ?highlight[s] past and present individuals who have made a contribution to America's intellectual property (IP) system...

Use Of Trade Secrets Mistakenly Sent By Email Can Be A Violation Of The Uniform Trade Secret Act

Posted on August 07, 2008
By Jay G. TaylorIn Ideal Aerosmith Inc. v. Acutronic USA, Inc., 87 U.S.P.Q. 2d 1341, the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania found that a valid claim of trade secret misappropriation had been plead and denied a motion to dismiss where the defendant allegedly received the trade secrets through misdirected emails...

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