After you have achieved the award of a patent, you may still be subject to challenge from competitors. Part of the America Invents Act or AIA the USPTO established a procedure called a Post Grant Review. The procedure gives third parties up to 9 months after the grant of your patent to challenge the award….
patent
REPRESENTATIVE PATENTS
6,597,177 Through Casing Resistivity Measurement In Permanently Installed Downhole Production Environment. A tool installed within a well casing that can saturate a portion of the casing with magnetic flux and send an oscillating magnetic flux that can be used for resistivity measurement of the adjacent geologic formation. 6,630,831 Measurement of Electrical Properties Through Non Magnetically…
WHY DOES THE PATENT EXAMINER HATE ME?
©Law Office of David McEwing PC, 2018 The fate of your patent application is in the hands of the patent examiner that has been assigned to your application. In reality, there is no ability to request a different examiner or complain to the examiner’s boss. The only feasible remedy to get around an unreasonable examiner…
RESTRICTION PRACTICE III
RESTRICTION PRACTICE III MPEP §806.5 pertains to combinations of embodiments such as an apparatus and method of utilizing the apparatus. Alternatively, it may pertain to a process and a method for practicing the process. The section also pertains to combinations and sub-combinations. (This arcane subject matter. I have borrowed heavily from the text of the…
RESTRICTION REQUIREMENT II
RESTRICTION PRACTICE II Remember a restriction requirement is frequently the first communication the Applicant receives from the examiner. A restriction requires that the Applicant select or elect among multiple “inventions” asserted by the examiner to be contained in the original application. I have written an introduction to this “puzzling topic” entitled Restriction Requirements. I want…
RESTRICTION PRACTICE
This Article was updated October 21, 2013. See Blog Restriction Practice II. The basic rule is that each patent can claim only one distinct and independent invention. This is subject to the rules pertaining to restriction practice and the filing of divisional applications. A related rule is that two patents can’t claim the same invention….
INTER PARTES REVIEW
INTER PARTES REVIEW For patents having a filing date of earlier than March 16, 2013, i.e., the date the America Invents Act is fully implemented, an issued patent can be challenged under the Inter Partes Review provisions of the AIA or “first to file” statute. Such patents are not subject to the Post Grant Review…
POST GRANT REVIEW
POST GRANT REVIEW After you have achieved the award of a patent, you may still be subject to challenge. Part of the new patent law (America Invents Act or AIA) is the procedure called a Post Grant Review. The procedure gives third parties 3 months after the grant of your patent to challenge the award….
PRE BRIEF APPEAL CONFERENCE
Every practitioner has encountered a recalcitrant examiner or an examiner that exhibits an unexplained animus to the invention. Parallel with this observation is the thought the “if I could just get this file in front of someone else, i.e., someone rational, the claims would be allowed.” The Patent Office provides an imperfect remedy. In a…
DISCOUNTED PATENT FEES, SMALL ENTITIES AND MIRCO-ENTITIES
The America Invents Act of 2011 is best known for establishing “the First Inventor to File” system. However it also created or defined “Micro-Entities”. Micro-Entities are entitled to a 75 percent discount on filing fees. Unfortunately the definition of a Micro-Entity is convoluted. First, a Micro-Entity is a small entity, i.e., it has fewer than…