Patent Law Practice Center

PTO Hopes New Patent Application Alert Service Will Increase Third-Party Submissions

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently announced a new service called the Patent Application Alert Service (PAAS). The PAAS is a result of a partnership between the USPTO and Reed Tech, a LexisNexis company. Substantively, the PAAS is a system that provides customized email alerts to the public for free when a patent application is published. Users of the system create an account and then save one or more searches.

“The purpose of the tool is to find out about the latest happenings, it is not about being able to search going back, it is about what is current,” explained Dave Abbott, Vice President for Government Solutions at Reed Tech. “There was never an intent for the Office to compete with the commercial providers.”

According to the USPTO, the Patent Application Alert Service enables individuals to stay up-to-date with potentially relevant pre-grant publications of patent applications at the USPTO. Through customizable alerts, individuals who sign up and create a search will be notified when a patent application is published by the USPTO, together with a concise description of the asserted relevance of each document reported.

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America Invents: A Simple Guide to Patent Reform, Part 2

Written by Gene Quinn, of IPWatchdog and Practice Center Contributor.

I have done quite a bit of writing about the America Invents Act, but I have been a bit derelict in providing the sequel to America Invents: A Simple Guide to Patent Reform, Part 1. Part of the reason, if not the entirety of the reason, is that the major parts of the American Invents Act that remain are anything but simple.

I was speaking with John White via telephone yesterday about the America Invents Act.  Yes, John and I are thoroughly immersed in this legislation and coming up with wrinkle after wrinkle that you probably never thought about.  Fun I know, but that is what two wild, crazy and tremendously charismatic patent attorneys talk about!  In any event, I told him I was having difficulty and asked him — how do you describe prior user rights, post-grant review and supplemental examination simply?  His response: “You don’t.”  We went on to talk about how first to file isn’t all that simple either, although the name suggests otherwise.  This thing, the monstrosity that is the America Invents Act, will be a full employment act for lawyers!  But when is it ever good for clients when it is good for the attorneys?

In any event, on this note I embark upon Part 2, which will seek to make sense of prior user rights, post-grant review, preissuance submission and patentability changes. This will leave inter partes review, supplemental examination and derivation proceedings for the finale — Part 3.  I will endeavor to describe these in the most straight forward way possible, but I am going to completely punt on Section 18 as it pertains to business methods and post-grant review, at least for now.  I just see no way to explain that in a “simple” way.  Notwithstanding, look for an article on Section 18 soon (a relative term I know), along with an article about specific peculiarities and likely unintended consequences of the Act.

Click here for Gene Quinn’s full article on IPWatchdog.