Tag Archives: patent reform

You have conceived of a wonderful new invention and you want tell everyone, but you are not ready for the expense of a patent application.  Should you open your mouth? Every inventor feels the tension between the need to maintain secrecy and the need to  disclose the invention.  If you are a regular reader of […]

As of March 16, 2013 the PTO stopped accepting or reviewing applications for SIRs.  Before March 16, the SIR was a technique to notify the world of an invention that the invention owner did not wish to patent.  The effect of the SIR was to dedicate the invention to the public so that anyone could […]

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 […]

Thanks to the America Invents Act, you’ll have to live with it, if your competitor submits the information on time and meets other requirements.  As of September 16, 2012, persons who are not the patent applicant can file papers and make arguments to the patent examiner as to why someone else’s patent application should be […]

Unless the courts quickly resolve disputes, there is no justice.  As former Chief Justice Warren E. Burger said: “A sense of confidence in the courts is essential to maintain the fabric of ordered liberty for a free people and three things could destroy that confidence and do incalculable damage to society: that people come to […]