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…

October 7, 2009

The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced yesterday that it is expanding its initial First Action Interview Pilot Program.  This program entitles an applicant to an interview with the patent examiner assigned to their case prior to the issuance…