All posts by: Robert Yarbrough

About Robert Yarbrough

Beach Umbrella Patents

September 18, 2025 Patent

Your faithful correspondent finds the beach superior in concept to execution.  The concept is a sun-drenched paradise, with clear waves gently lapping on the white sand and whales cavorting in the distance.  The reality is sun burn, dehydration, sand too hot to walk on and saltwater mosquitoes that drain a pint at a time.  In […]

Is There Hope for Patents?

August 14, 2025 Patent

Let’s say you’re the leader of a very big company.  You know with the serene confidence of entitlement that you and your company are very, very important – much more important than the little, insignificant, unimportant people out there – the ones who own patents.1 You’re annoyed that the unimportant people, the ones who own patents, get […]

The USPTO is Hiring Patent Examiners

July 10, 2025 Patent

Did you feel it? Something just shifted in the cosmos.  Perhaps Jupiter aligned with Mars, and it’s the dawning of the Age of Aquarius.    Umm, no.   But something has changed.  The Administration has recognized that some Federal employees are important: namely, patent examiners.  After six months of relentless pressure on patent examiners to quit or retire, the USPTO […]

Yes, Disclosing Prior Art to the Patent Examiner IS Important

June 12, 2025 Patent

When you file your patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, your application (eventually) is reviewed by a patent examiner.  Among other things, the patent examiner will compare your invention to the ‘prior art’ to determine whether your invention is new and is different enough to qualify for patenting.    But what is […]

IP Retaliation for Tariffs

May 1, 2025 Intellectual Property

Here’s the situation: you’re the leader of a country that does business with the U.S. Do you have any trade war options other than retaliatory tariffs? You betcha. Consider the case of Russia. After Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Western nations imposed multiple sanctions against Russia.  Many Western businesses curtailed Russian operations or left the country entirely.  […]

Experimental Use in Patent Law

April 3, 2025 Patent

Query: I saw a cool new patented invention, and I want to make a copy to conduct experiments and perform research.  I won’t sell the copy.  Will I be liable for patent infringement? Answer: Almost certainly, but maybe not. What is ‘Experimental Use’ in Patent Law? In certain limited circumstances, making and using a patented invention for […]

Reason for Hope at the USPTO

March 6, 2025 Patent

Any Federal employee and anyone in the private sector who does business with the Federal government is facing a period of uncertainty and forced career change.  With mass Federal layoffs and confirmation of Cabinet secretaries of non-existent or frankly troubling credentials, the intent appears to be that large portions of government will disappear and others will grind […]

Who Will Review the Patent Applications?

February 6, 2025 Patent

Long before COVID 19 and remote work, there was the USPTO ‘hoteling’ system. It started in 1997 with 18 employees, and expanded to 500 employees in 2005 and 2006, as the USPTO moved to its shiny new offices in Alexandria.  Over the years, the program has expanded to include pretty much any examiner with more than a year of […]

One Continent, One Patent, Mostly

January 2, 2025 Patent

Long, long ago (as in last year), if an invention owner wanted to protect an invention in Europe, the owner had to either (a) apply for separate patents in one or more of the countries of Europe, or (b) submit a patent application to the European Patent Office (‘EPO’) and, after approval, register the patent […]

The Patent Application That Would Not Die

December 12, 2024 Patent

Around the turn of the century, several financial analyst types came up with a way to analyze the pricing of financial services to account for all the costs of selling the service.  The basic invention allows a provider (say, an insurance company) to determine the transactional costs at each step of the transaction, such as […]

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