Tag Archives: USPTO

The new year of 1836, that is. 1836 was big for the U.S. patent system. It’s the year that the USPTO switched to the current patent numbering system, the year the USPTO started actually examining patent applications, and the year the patent office burned down – in that order. A little background – the Federal […]

A sore point among inventors and invention owners is the time required for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to review a utility patent application.  That time generally runs between eighteen months and two and a half years or more. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has created a new “first-time filer expedited examination […]

It’s time to turn over a bright, shiny new leaf and to make hopeful resolutions with the best of intentions.  Your Faithful Narrator’s thoughts turn to a shiny new beginning of the distant past – to the year 1790, only three years after the Founders hammered out the new U.S. Constitution and one year after […]

In March 2019, we wrote with some concern, that as early as 2017 Chinese companies had filed more than 12 times the number of trademark applications with the USPTO than in previous years. At that time the director of the USPTO stated that “forecasts indicate that annual increases are expected to average 10% during the next 8 […]

*Originally posted on November 6, 2015 The “USPTO” is the abbreviation for the United States Patent and Trademark Office. It is a federal government administrative agency under the Commerce Department that is responsible for granting patents and issuing trademark registrations. Facts about the USPTO: While this sounds simple enough it is actually a large agency, […]

The story today demonstrates that even experienced and sophisticated patent owners, like Apple, can trip over the fundamentals. ‘Inter partes review’ is a way* for a person or company to challenge someone else’s patent before the USPTO.  A person who wants to challenge a patent can petition the USPTO and submit prior patents, applications or other […]

2021 brings new trademark fees. The PTO states: “The overall strategy of the Final Rule is to balance a reasonable and affordable fee schedule with sufficient multi-year revenue to recover the aggregate costs of maintaining the USPTO’s trademark-related operations and accomplishing the USPTO’s trademark-related strategic goals. The Final Rule enables the USPTO to continue to enhance […]

On Sunday, December 27, 2020, President Trump signed into law the $2.3 trillion coronavirus relief and government funding bill. Included within the massive piece of legislation are a number of new laws specifically addressing intellectual property issues, including the 2020 Trademark Modernization Act (TMA), the Case Act and other copyright related legislation discussed in another article […]

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