Patent Prosecution

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Prosecutor’s Tool Box 2017

Patent prosecutors navigate complex USPTO rules and seemingly esoteric examinational requirements to procure patent rights. In doing so, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP) does not have the full force and effect of law. Nevertheless, patent examiners (rarely trained lawyers) adhere to their interpretation of the Manual requirements. To budge examiners off of entrenched, legal positions, savvy prosecutors will keep a trained eye on the Federal Circuit for help.

2017 provided several decisions of immediate value to patent prosecutors.
Continue Reading 2017 CAFC Guidance for Patent Prosecutors

User Activities vs. User-Driven, Hardware Function

Every so often a decision comes out of the Federal Circuit that has immediate value for patent prosecutors. Yesterday’s decision in Mastermine Software, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp., is one such case.

In Mastermine, the Court considered the extent to which user-initiated methodology of a Customer Relations Management (CRM) system may be recited in system claims. The district court found certain claims of the patents-in-suit (7,945,850 & 8,429,518), indefinite for improperly claiming two different subject-matter classes citing IPXL Holdings, L.L.C. v. Amazon.com, Inc., 430 F.3d 1377(here).  The Federal Circuit reversed.

In its reversal, the Federal Circuit provided helpful guidance to patent prosecutors on how to claim user-driven hardware features in the first instance, as well as how to impress upon a patent examiner that functional language of such claims does not cross the line to reciting a separate statutory class.
Continue Reading Patent Prosecutor’s Toolbox: Claiming User Functionality

PTAB Institution Rate Dips Into 60% Range

Past Three Months of PTAB Statistics Tell A Different Story


Last week, I explained that the institution rate of PTAB trials in Inter Partes Review (IPR) and Covered Business Method (CBM) proceedings had dropped, on average, by roughly 10 percentage points in the past year. However, the averaging of 2012-14 proceedings does not tell the current story. Whether you agree with my explanation of this recent phenomena as a reflection of poor petition quality or not, there is clearly a heightened focus on the preliminary proceeding (i.e., petition stage).

What was left out of last week’s post was a snap shot of what is actually going on at the PTAB  today— the effective institution rate right now.

Broadest Reasonable Does not Mean Broadest Possible!

The USPTO applies a broadest reasonable claim interpretation (BRI) to patents and patent applications. The abbreviation “BRI” is often used to reference the full claim interpretation standard, which is the broadest reasonable interpretation in light of the specification, from the perspective of one skilled in the relevant art. (MPEP 2111)

Unfortunately, a complete BRI analysis is often mistaken by overemphasis of the “BRI” mantra. That is to say, the proper test is not simply a “broadest reasonable interpretation” of claims in a linguistic sense. Rather, a proper  broadest reasonable interpretation of the claims is one that is consistent with the specification of the subject application/patent. While it is true that limitations from a patent specification may not be imported to the claims, the USPTO often times confuses this prohibition with the required contextual consideration of the specification.

In 2010, the CAFC strongly cautioned the USPTO on reading claims independent of a patent specification during patent reexamination in In re Suitco Surface (CAFC 2010). Last week, the agency was reversed again for failing to conform the “reasonableness” determination with the scope of the patent specification.
Continue Reading Patent Prosecutor’s Toolbox: The Better Half of BRI

What Exactly is the “Thrust of the Rejection?”

Every so often a decision comes out of the USPTO’s Patent Trial & Appeal Board (PTAB) or the Federal Circuit that has immediate value for patent prosecutors. For example, back in June, the Federal Circuit analyzed the degree of corroboration necessary for an In re Katz declaration.  Earlier this week, the Court reviewed an appeal from an inter partes reexamination in Honeywell Intl. Inc. v. Mexichem Amanco Holding S.A. de C.V. et al. to determine whether or not the Board’s reliance on a reference different from those of the patent examiners underlying rejections constituted a “new rejection.”  The Court’s discussion, especially that found in the dissent, may help shed light on this somewhat amorphous standard. 

While a new rejection analysis may appear to be limited in relevance to patent prosecution and appeals before the PTAB, this same analysis can be helpful in navigating Administrative Procedure Act (APA) compliance in AIA trial proceedings.

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Continue Reading Patent Prosecutor Alert: When is a Rejection a New Rejection?

Are You Properly Corroborating Your In Re Katz Declarations?

Every so often a decision comes out of the USPTO’s Patent Trial & Appeal Board (PTAB) or the Federal Circuit that has immediate value for patent prosecutors. Last week, in EmeraChem Holdings, LLC v. Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.,the Federal Circuit considered the degree of corroboration necessary to disqualify a prior art reference as an inventor’s own work.  In EmeraChem the Cout made clear that such corroboration may be within the inventor declaration itself, but, it must be more than a mere naked assertion of inventorship.
Continue Reading A Post-Grant Lesson for Patent Prosecutors

Patent Examiners Leverage AIA Trial Data

Back in April, the USPTO launched the Post Grant Outcomes Pilot, which focused on pending patent applications that are related to patents undergoing an America Invents Act (AIA) trial proceeding before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). The agency now reports that the Post Grant Outcomes Pilot has succeeded in making examiners aware of trials related to applications they are examining, and in turn has facilitated the timely and effective examination of applications.

The idea behind the program is that AIA trial proceedings contain prior art and arguments that might be highly relevant to the patentability determination of related applications currently under examination. This pilot was intended to help examiners harness the art presented during AIA trials to enhance examination of a related application, so they could reach more expeditious decisions on patentability.

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Continue Reading Related Applications & PTAB Trials: Post-Grant Pilot Results

New 101 Guidance Addresses Recent CAFC Decisions

Today, the USPTO issued a memorandum entitled “Recent Subject Matter Eligibility Decisions.” (here).  The memo  provides a discussion of two recent CAFC decisions identifying eligible subject matter, namely McRO, Inc. dba Planet Blue v. Bandai Namco Games America Inc., 120 USPQ2d 1091 (Fed. Cir. 2016)…

USPTO Revisits 2011 Rule Proposal (Rules 56(a) &555(a))

In the wake of the Federal Circuit’s 2011 decision in Therasense Inc. v. Becton Dickinson and Co., the USPTO quickly moved to revise the Duty of Disclosure to align with the Court’s new, but-for materiality standard—perhaps too quickly.  The 2011 proposal sought to update the relevant rules (1.56 and 1.555) by explicitly adding a short hand, reference to the Therasense case itself. The earlier proposal also intertwined the the “egregious conduct” exception of the Therasense holding (Duty of Candor & Good Faith) with the Duty of Disclosure.

At the time, I questioned whether it was unnecessarily confusing to mix together concepts of conduct and disclosure given the agency’s historical segregation of such. Others found it odd that the rule would reference the name of the case as opposed to spelling out the “but-for” materiality standard of its holding.
Today, the USPTO has revisited this earlier proposal, and issued a new proposal.  

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Continue Reading USPTO to Adjust Duty of Disclosure to Align With Therasense

USPTO Post-Prosecution Pilot Program

While not directly related to Patent Trial & Appeal Board (PTAB) practice, today, the USPTO announced the launch of the “Post-Prosecution Pilot Program.” (here) The program is designed to provide more feedback to applicants by allowing them to participate in a panel discussion with examiners after a final rejection.

The goal of the Pilot is to reduce the number of appeals to the PTAB. Essentially, the program allows for participation in person, or remotely, in a pre-appeal brief style hearing of the prosecution.  

In my view, this type of feedback will be especially valuable to patent applicants (which is why I recommended the same roughly 6 years ago).
Continue Reading New Panel Hearing Option for After Final Patent Practice