Each patent is published with a patent number upon issuance. The patent number is frequently followed with a kind code, which conveys information about the patent or its prosecution history. Other patent documents include kind codes as well. In 2001,…
When an applicant files a US patent application with a foreign priority claim, a copy of the foreign priority application must be submitted to the US Patent Office.
As discussed earlier, the Patent and Trademark Office is extending certain deadlines where a delay in filing a paper or paying a fee was due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Initially, the guidance from the USPTO was to include a specific…
Not very long ago, patent applications were maintained in secrecy until they issued as patents. Today, however, an application is published 18 months after its effective filing date, meaning that anyone can see your invention after you file it. By…
Patently-O has some interesting discussion regarding the ownership of a patent after a divorce. The case is Enovsys v. Nextel and stems from Sprint-Nextel’s appeal of a patent infringement verdict. As part of its argument, Sprint claimed that the plaintiff…
In an Op-Ed piece at the New York Times I came across via Patently-O, Paul Michel and Henry Nothhaft argue for the infusion of $1 billion into the Patent Office. What I noticed most in this article was their citation that…