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…
Nearly a month into the government shutdown, the United States Patent and Trademark Office continues to run at full capacity. The Patent Office is somewhat self-funded, in that the fees that applicants pay to file and prosecute patent applications are…
The Patent and Trademark Office will not be requiring handwritten signatures during COVID-19 outbreak. Correspondence with the Patent Office requires a signature of some form. Generally, an electronic or S-signature is sufficient to submit a document to the Patent and…
Today, as the last bit of the America Invents Act goes into effect, the Patent Office introduces a new fee structure. Some fees are going up, some fees are going down (Patently-O has a nice article comparing new fees to…
The backlog of patent applications before the Patent Office has dropped from 700,000 to 600,000 in only about a year. Director Kappos has really helped push the Patent Office to become quicker (about 4 months faster initial exams than two…
People often don’t understand what exactly a patent is. I’m going to take the next few blog posts to describe the different parts of a patent. A patent generally consists of several items: Abstract Drawings Background / Field of Invention…