Patent Law Practice Center

Robert Hulse Discusses USPTO’s Patent Processing Initiative

I’m sure many of you are still trying to weed through the detailed call for comments on the USPTO’s Three-Track Patent Processing Initiative that was published in the Federal Register last week.  It will be interesting to see the comments that come in from the Patent Community and how the PTO’s proposal will evolve based on the comments.  I had an opportunity to ask Robert Hulse, partner at Fenwick & West, LLP and Contributor on the Patent Center, some general questions that I had regarding the PTO’s initiative:

Are you in favor of or opposed to Three-Track proposal?  Do you believe it’s an improvement from the one-size-fits-all patent system?

Generally, I think this proposal will be good for patent applicants, but I would caution that it is just a general proposal with no specific rules.  Once the PTO published the proposed rules for implementing the Three-Track system, we will have a better understanding of how beneficial the system will be for applicants and how likely this system is to achieve the PTO’s stated goals of reducing pendency while maintaining quality examination. 

 For example, the rules may impose a high fee or otherwise place onerous requirements on applicants to take advantage of the prioritized track, Track 1.  In this case, most applicants simply wouldn’t take advantage of Track 1, which would reduce the effectiveness of the program.  This is the case with the current accelerated examination procedure, which requires a supporting document (the Accelerated Examination Support Document, or AESD) that places a tremendous burden on the applicant. (more…)

Top 10 Patent Issues for Patent Practioners

I recently asked Thomas Creel, of Thomas L. Creel P.C., former patent law professor for 20 years at Columbia University Law School, that with all the latest developments in the patent community including the rebirth of patent reform, the recent court cases regarding what is patentable subject matter and the proposed changes in PTO procedures, what are the top 10 areas of interest for Patent  Practioners right now?  Here is what he had to say….

1.  Economy – There’s been a lot of talk about how the economy has and is changing the practice of law, particularly in private practice. For example, new billings methods have been proposed to replace the hourly billing traditional system. Have there been discernable economic and structural changes which have affected the patent practitioner, and how are they likely in the future to affect him or her?  For example, what is the future of the big boutique law firms (such as Finnegan, Henderson; Kenyon & Kenyon; Fitzpatrick, Cella, etc.) vs. the IP sections of large general firms?  How about large corporations- has the economy affected the filing of patent applications or the handling of litigation?  Another aspect of this might be what the average charge is for prosecution, litigation, licensing, etc. (more…)