Last month the House and Senate passed the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act (H.R. 2112). The bottom line for the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is that it now has spending authority set through the end of the current fiscal year, September 30, 2012. The bottom line is that the USPTO can spend up [...]
The US Patent and Trademark Office USPTO now offers a $400.00 incentive to small entities for filing a Utility Patent Application. The new rule became effective on November 15, 2011, as a result of the passage of the American Invents Act (AIA). See Federal Register Notice The new rule adds a charge of $400.00 to [...]
On September 16, 2011, President Barack Obama signed into law the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA), which will foster innovation and spur job creation in the United States. This Act sets into motion the most comprehensive overhaul to our nation’s patent system since 1836. Patent attorneys, agents and the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) [...]
In a financial move that could only make sense to Washington, DC politicians, the federal government, under H.R. 1473 (the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act) has cut $100 million from the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Budget. The move is purely political because the USPTO budget is derived directly from fees collected from inventors [...]
Paul R. Michel is the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“CAFC”). The CAFC is the court of exclusive jurisdiction of all patent cases that are appealed from federal district courts from across the country. In a speech delivered to the Patent Examiners at the US Patent and [...]
