As detailed previously, the USPTO has launched a new, internal pilot program entitled “After Final Consideration Pilot” (AFCP) for patent applications. The program is designed to foster compact prosecution by encouraging examiner entry of an amendment submitted in response to a final rejection, in limited situations. (note this program does not
The Patent Public Advisory Committee (PPAC) convened a week or so back at the USPTO for their quarterly meeting. During the meeting, the USPTO presented an update on office operations and AIA implementation status. Of note, the USPTO has announced another round of road shows for presenting
Following on the heels of the House Judiciary Committee hearing last month, today, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on the implementation of the America Invents Act beginning at 10AM. The hearing will be webcast (here) and is entitled Oversight of the United States Patent and
The USPTO is now heading into the home stretch of the America Invents Act (AIA) rule making efforts. The USPTO has committed to publishing the final rules relating to the new post grant mechanisms of the AIA by August 16th, at the latest. It is expected that the agency will complete their work on the final rules in July, but, the review of the Office of Management & Budget (OMB) will delay publication another 2-3 weeks.
The final packages are not expected to vary significantly from the February NPRMs. The USPTO has commented publicly
Earlier this week, the USPTO issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to implement the micro entity provision of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA). If an applicant qualifies as a micro entity, then the applicant is eligible to pay reduced patent fees once the USPTO exercises its fee setting authority under the AIA (in the
At last week’s AIPLA Spring Meeting, the Director of the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU), Ms. Remy Yucel provided an update on the continued efforts of the USPTO to refine the patent reexamination process. The Director reported that the time to printing of a reexamination certificate has improved, and that
Tomorrow, the House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on the Implementation of the America Invents Act at 10AM. The hearing will be webcast, information is found (here).
The agenda provides a list of speakers, some of which will discuss the implementation of the new post grant proceedings.
Some pre-grant news today….as detailed previously, the USPTO has launched a new, internal pilot program entitled “After Final Consideration Pilot” (AFCP). The program is designed to foster compact prosecution by encouraging examiner entry of an amendment submitted in response to a final rejection, in limited situations.
If you have
A bit of “pre-grant” news today…. the USPTO has launched a new, internal pilot program entitled “After Final Consideration Pilot” (AFCP). The memo announcing the program to the Examining Corps outlines the purpose as: To advance the goal of compact prosecution, the following
Back in February, I noted the “interesting” decision of plaintiff EveryMD to file suit against the Republican presidential candidates. The suit, captioned EveryMD v. Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney, and Newt Gingrich(C.D.CA) explains that U.S. Patent 7,644,122 is infringed by Facebook, and as business customers of