All posts by: Robert Yarbrough

“Design patents” address how something looks; namely, the ornamental design of the object. Examples of patented designs include the appearance of a chest of drawers and the appearance. of silverware. “Design patents” are different from “utility patents,” which protect how something works, such as a better mousetrap. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is speeding […]

The Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (“BPAI”) is the body within the Patent and Trademark Office that hears appeals. If a patent application is rejected twice by an examiner, the applicant can appeal to the BPAI and ask that the examiner’s decision be reversed. If the applicant is not happy with the decision of […]

If two inventors working independently create the same invention, which one is entitled to a patent?  Is it the person who invents first or the person who files a patent application first? Under current U.S. law, the person who is “first to invent” is entitled to the patent.  In the rest of the world, the […]