Patent Law Practice Center

IP Watchdog’s Interview with David Kappos

A few months ago, IPWatchdog author, Practice Center contributor, and PLI Patent Bar Review instructor, Gene Quinn was granted an exclusive interview with USPTO Director and Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property, David Kappos. Throughout the lengthy interview, the focus shifted from acceleration of applications through the Track 1 program, to agency-wide uniformity despite having 7,000 examiners, and to current initiatives geared toward making the near future for the patent system more efficient. It is amazing to see how Quinn, one of the primary instructors of PLI’s Patent Bar Review, is treated with such respect by the Director of the USPTO.

For the transcript of the interview in its entirety, click here for the IPWatchdog postings. Here are some of the key points taken from the conversation between Quinn and Kappos: (more…)

USPTO Budget Reductions Halt Fee-Based Prioritized Examination (Track I) And Other Programs

Jeanne Gills, Partner at Foley & Lardner and Practice Center Contributor sent in this alert discussing the impact the enactmet of the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011 will have on the USPTO’s spending authority for fiscal year 2011.

On April 22, 2011, USPTO Director David J. Kappos announced the impact of the budget reductions embodied in the fiscal year 2011 budget that finally was enacted on April 15, 2011. (Fiscal year 2011 runs through September 30, 2011.) The budget gives the USPTO the authority to spend only $2.09 billion, which is about $100 million less than its projected fee collections.

As a result of this significant fee diversion, the USPTO has decided not to implement fee-based prioritized examination (Track I), which was going to be available as of May 4, 2011.

Applicants interested in prioritized examination should consider whether their applications qualify for other programs, such as the Accelerated Examination,Patent Prosecution Highway, or Green Technology programs. An overview of these programs can be found on Foley’s PharmaPatentsBlog. (more…)