Large, small and micro are the types of entity, depending on which an applicant will pay a different fee to the USPTO. If each party holding rights in the invention qualifies as a small entity (e.g., independent inventor, a small business, or a nonprofit organization), federal fees for filing, searching, examining, issuing, appealing, and maintaining…
A provisional patent application allows you to establish an invention date or a priority date without filing a nonprovisional regular patent application. The filing date of a provisional application serves as an early effective filing date in a later filed nonprovisional application if the nonprovisional application is filed within 12 months from the filing date…
Patent drawings serve to supplement the specification and claims. The drawings can be effectively scanned for publication. The Office of Patent Application Processing (OPAP) of the USPTO performs an initial review of drawings in new utility and plant patent applications. Design applications are not published, and thus drawings filed in design patent applications are not…
The Manuel of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP) stipulates that for a later-filed application if entitled to the benefit of an earlier-filed national application, the later-filed application must contain a specific reference to the earlier-filed application. That is, if a later-filed application intends to claim domestic or foreign priority to secure an effective filing date or…
Patents and patent applications are personal property. Applications for patent, patents, or any interest therein, are assignable in law by an instrument in writing. Assignment means a transfer by a party of all or part of its right, title and interest in a patent, patent application, registered mark or a mark for which an application…
A patent owner is given a period of protection of its exclusive rights in return for publishing the patent to the public for further improvements. Patent rights last only for a limited period of time, and the right to sue other parties for infringing on the patent is based on this period. Thus, inventors and…
There are four types of U.S. national applications: a PCT national stage application, a regular domestic national application, a provisional application, and an international design application under the Hague Agreement. A PCT “International” Phase Application needs to be completed with 12 months from the priority date which is the filing date of a parent application.…
Patent Application Locating and Monitoring (PALM) System The PALM system is the automated data management system as an intranet used by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for the retrieval and/or online updating of the computer record of each patent application. The PALM System also maintains examiner time, activity, and docket records, and…
The most common rejections in a patent application include so called a novelty rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 102, an obviousness rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 103, and indefiniteness rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 112. You may say that if a patent application pass two tests (novelty and obviousness tests), your patent application would be…
Under U.S. patent law, while there is no duty to perform a search of relevant art, inventors and those associated with filing or prosecuting patent applications have a duty to disclose to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) all known prior art or other information that may be “material” in determining patentability. In U.S.…