Yesterday, the Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in CLS Bank v. Alice Corp. on patent eligibility standards for computer implemented inventions. This decision will impact current 101 challenges in CBM proceedings, and shape patent procurement/claiming strategies for software related methodologies going forward.
Please join me and my authoritative panel for
Last week, the USPTO released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) entitled Changes to Require Identification of Attributable Owner. The proposals would heap significant new administrative requirements on patent owners in the name of thwarting abusive patent suits. The agency explains the new reporting requirements will, in part, reduce
As Bob Dylan once warned, you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone….the times they are a changin.‘ While Bob clearly had some broader ranging social issues on his mind when he penned those lyrics, they are quite befitting of the outdated philosophies driving most U.S patent prosecution practices in the aftermath of the America Invents Act (AIA).
I’m not talking about the change over in March 2013 from the first-to-invent system to the first-inventor-to-file system of the AIA, but instead, the de facto switch in September 2012 from the “infringement first” philosophy of patent prosecution to the new, balanced patentability/infringement model. That is, before the introduction of the AIA post grant challenge mechanisms, Inter Partes Review (IPR), Post Grant Review (PGR), and the transitional program for Covered Business Method Patents (CBM), securing a maximum claim breadth was the primary driver of patent prosecution practices — the broader the better.
The infringement first philosophy is now dead— as will be your patent portfolio unless you change your tune.
Some notable pre-grant news this week. A Request for Continued Examination (RCE) is largely a procedural creature of pre-grant, patent application prosecution (patent reissue being the lone exception on the post grant side). Recently, the backlog of RCE filings has increased significantly. This is largely