Patent

gavel of justice

According to a chart released by the U.S. PTO, about 26,500 provisional and non-provisional patent applications were filed on March 15, up from the about 2,500 applications that are filed on a typical day.  The reason: inventors and their patent lawyers (including us) were racing to beat the March 16 deadline. As we have said […]

uploading photos

As an individual or small business inventor, do you feel really, really small?  The good news: after March 16, 2013 you may qualify as a ‘micro entity’ and be entitled to patent fee discounts from the PTO of 75% off large entity rates.  The bad news: large and small entity rates are going up at […]

TM is for trademarks

If you want to protect a product by patent in Europe today, you generally will file an application in the European Patent Office (“EPO”).  When your application is (eventually) reviewed and approved by the EPO, you then must register the approved application with each individual European country in which you desire a patent and must […]

uploading photos

David J. Kappos has announced that he will depart as the Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office at the end of January.  His replacement has not been announced.   Kappos has led the PTO since 2009 and filled a leadership vacuum at the PTO dating from the last few years of the last administration.  […]

Courtroom

We’ve said it before, but it bears repeating.  Remember that on or after March 17, 2013, you MUST protect your invention before offering the invention for sale or using the invention in public.  Otherwise, you lose your U.S. patent rights instantly and forever.  This is a major change in the law and requires an entirely […]

deposit boxes

Your company is threatened with a lawsuit for patent infringement.  You are confident that your product does not infringe.  Should you fight or should you surrender? These are very real questions that businesses face every day.  According to a 2009 survey by the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the average cost for infringement litigation through […]