October 27, 2009

On September 24, 2009, Thailand (TH) became the 142nd Contracting State of the PCT.  Thailand will become bound by the PCT on December 24, 2009, and all PCT applications filed on or after December 24 will automatically designate Thailand.

October 21, 2009

A new patent search tool offered by WIPO is available here.  The tool includes about 1.6 million PCT applications as well as the patent collections of ARIPO, Cuba, Israel, Mexico, South Korea, Singapore, South Africa and Vietnam.  Additional collections will be added in…

October 9, 2009

The USPTO announced today that it will officially rescind its controversial claiming and continuations rules package next week.  The restrictive rules package sought to impose extensive limits on the way applicants could claim their inventions and on the number of…

September 28, 2009

Although it is still several months away, the EPO will dramatically changes its practice effective April 1, 2010 relating to divisional applications and European search reports.  A review of the changes is presented below: Limitation on Filing Divisional Applications In…

September 28, 2009

One of the most important parts of intellectual property, which tends to be overlooked, is establishing ownership of intellectual property.  In many cases, employees are hired without having to sign any type of employment agreement, or if they do sign…

September 18, 2009

The USPTO announced on June 30, 2009, that the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) became the fourth country to participate in the Priority Document Exchange Program (PDX).  This allows patent applicants to exchange electronic priority documents between the USPTO and WIPO at…

July 20, 2009

On July 6, the Federal Circuit granted rehearing en banc in Tafas v. Doll regarding the USPTO’s power to implement new rules on restrictions for continuations and claim limitations.  No comment concerning the underlying opinion was given beyond announcing its…

June 8, 2009

Applicants of international PCT patent applications filed on or after January 1, 2009, can now view the file contents of their published applications online. Over the next couple of months, the service will begin including applications for which early publication…

May 18, 2009

Germany has now agreed to participate in the Patent Prosecution Highway Program (PPH). Under the PPH, an applicant receiving a favorable ruling from one nation may request that the corresponding application filed with the other nation advance out of turn…

May 18, 2009

There are some lesser known alternatives for protecting and enforcing patents in China that can save patent owners both time and money. For example, a utility model patent application can be a quicker and less expensive alternative for obtaining patent…

May 4, 2009

The Hague System allows companies to seek international protection for industrial designs inexpensively. For example, an Applicant could save in excess of $5,800 for a design patent application filed in the European Community, Switzerland, and Turkey. However, there are a…