Category Archives: Patent

Filing an Assignment with a Patent Application

An assignment can be filed with a patent application to immediately convey control of the patent application to the assignee. This is frequently necessary where the inventor is an employee of a company that will be controlling the patent application. … Continue reading

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A Patent is a Tool, not a Ticket

I hear too many people saying, “I’ve got this great idea. If I could just get it patented, I’d make a million dollars.” A patent isn’t a ticket into a life of luxury. It doesn’t mean squat if you don’t … Continue reading

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Patentable Subject Matter – Mayo v. Prometheus

An invention must be of the appropriate subject matter to be eligible for a patent.  Appropriate subject matter includes, by statutory definition, a machine, article of manufacture, composition of matter, or process.  For most inventions, the determination regarding whether the … Continue reading

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Patent Claims – An Analogy

Understanding patent claims is crucial when you are trying to understand what a patent is and what it can do for you as an inventor.  I recently read in Mechanics of Patent Claim Drafting by John Landis a great, easy-to-comprehend … Continue reading

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Open Source Prosthetics Development

After listening to a fascinating interview of double-amputee Scott Rigsby on IM Talk, I began thinking about the world of prosthetics and how it relates to my career in patents.  With nearly all medical devices, intellectual property protection can often … Continue reading

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The Duty of Candor and Good Faith in Patent Applications

When a patent application is filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the applicant currently must sign a Declaration attesting to several things. First, that the applicant is the original and first inventor of the claimed subject matter. … Continue reading

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America Invents Act Online Guide

I’ve already received many calls from clients about the American Invents Act.  For those who want an online reference, the USPTO has created a site that contains some very basic information about the changes it will bring.  Some of those … Continue reading

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Patent Reform

You may have heard that a patent reform bill was recently passed by Congress reforming the way our patent system runs.  If signed by the President, it will bring the largest changes to the patent system in over a hundred … Continue reading

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First to File Risks to Individual Inventors

David Abrams and Dennis Crouch have published a comparative study on the switch from a first-to-invent system to a first-to-file system in Canada and applied the analysis to the potential change to the US patent system by the America Invents … Continue reading

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Sampled “Success” Rates of Patent Applications, Courtesy Patently-O

Patently-O did a brief post yesterday on a selected group of patent applications to see how the applications have proceeded through the PTO.  Of the applications filed in February 2006, 57% have matured into a patent, 28% are abandoned, and … Continue reading

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