Patent Law Practice Center

Preparing for the Patent Bar Exam Changes

The following post is written by Mark Dighton, PLI’s Director of Law School Relations and Administrative Director of the Patent Bar Review.

If all goes as planned, the Patent Office will start on Tuesday, January 31st, to test on the PTO’s Registration Exam (sometimes called “the patent bar exam”) some of the first changes to US patent law resulting from the America Invents Act, as well as some changes to the appeals rules that had been in the works even before Patent Reform.  The new appeals rules did not even become effective until January 23, 2012.  Testing them only eight days later demonstrates clearly that the Patent Office is good to their word that they expect the Exam to more accurately reflect current practice going forward. (For many years, the Exam was YEARS behind current practice. Seemingly almost an afterthought.)

The changes from the America Invents Act already subject to testing are the new rules that permit prioritized examination of patent applications (Track I) and revise the standard for granting inter partes reexamination requests.  (more…)

Patent Post-Grant Options – The New AIA Regime

Post-grant review proceedings of the USPTO were pursued in record number in 2011. In response, the America Invents Act introduced new options for patent reexamination such as Post-Grant Review, Inter Partes Review (formerly inter partes patent reexamination) Derivation, a special post-grant review for “business method” patents and Supplemental Examination. Whether your job requires management of a patent portfolio or advising clients in disputes that involve or may lead to patent litigation, the changes brought forth by the AIA are incredibly relevant.

PLI is responding to these changes by providing a seminar focused on these new patent post-grant options. On February 3rd, the seminar entitled “Post-Grant USPTO Proceedings 2012 – The New Patent Litigation” will be held at the New York PLI Center and online via a live webcast! Gain valuable practice insights concerning the new America Invents Act (AIA) post-grant USPTO proceedings directly from experienced practitioners on the program’s stellar faculty including:

Brian Hanlon, Director of the Office of Patent Legal Administration;

Irem Yucel, Director of the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU);

BPAI’s Chief Administrative Patent Judge James Donald Smith;

U.S. Chief Judge Garrett E. Brown and District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee; and

ITC Administrative Law Judge Theodore R. Essex  (more…)

Top 5 Patent Law Blog Posts of the Week

Today we continue our weekly installment highlighting the best of the patent blogosphere from the past week. Highlights include a new UPSTO branch in Detroit and IBM’s patent portfolio remaining the recipient of the most patents granted in the past year.  If there are any patent blogs you think should be highlighted by our Top 5, please comment on this post and we’ll check them out!

1) Patently-O: New Detroit Office – It’s somewhat all-American to be happy for Detroit’s recent resurgence, and this post shares the details of the new Detroit Branch of the USPTO. The office is expected open by July 2012 and will employ about 100 individuals, mainly patent examiners.  Prospective employees can e-mail detroitHiring@uspto.gov.

2)Patents Post Grant: Patent Reissue Oath Practice Revised by the USPTO – As the America Invents Act has required that the “deceptive intent” component of patent reissue oaths be stricken, the USPTO has taken the opportunity to fix a few other problems. This post explains the major changes to the inventor’s oath. (more…)

The New Law the USPTO is Thankful for this Thanksgiving

In the spirit of expressing gratitude this Thanksgiving holiday, Scott McKeown, Partner at Oblon, Spivak, Practice Center Contributor and author of Patents Post Grant Blog, shares the newest law for which the USPTO is thankful. On November 18, 2011, President Obama signed into law H.R. 2112, the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act. This bill provides the USPTO with official spending authority through the end of September 2012 (the end of the fiscal year) and the ability to spend up to $2.7 billion dollars. According to Scott’s post,  (more…)

PLI Talks Video: Denise Loring on Patent Litigation

The Practising Law Institute’s Laurie Gilbertson interviewed Denise Loring of Ropes & Gray LLP about the impact the America Invents Act (AIA) has and will have on patent litigation. Denise elaborates on what she considers to be the fundamental changes to the U.S. patent system resulting from the passage of the AIA, what changes have been put into effect, and what the biggest impact on patent litigation will be. For more information on the AIA, check out the Patent Law Practice Center’s post, “America Invents: A Simple Guide to Patent Reform, Part 1 & Part 2“, written by Practice Center contributor Gene Quinn of IPWatchDog.com.

For a more in-depth look at the America Invents Act, check out Denise Loring’s Powerpoint presentation, Understanding The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act.