I recently completed participation in the USPTO’s new pilot continuing legal education system called “Continuing Education for Practitioners” (CEP). As I explained in my earlier post on the CEP system, the USPTO solicited volunteers to try out their new CLE system. I volunteered, was selected, and, as promised, the following is my report on the…
Month: September 2008
Some Strategies For Responding To Rejections Based On Inherency
Inherency is a doctrine in U.S. patent prosecution by which unstated or unillustrated aspects of cited art are treated as if they are expressly disclosed. The basis for this doctrine is that some things that will, as a matter of scientific fact, always flow from what is disclosed in art. This doctrine permits the USPTO…
Goodbye To Duplicate Paper Copies Of Fee Forms
For those who are still filing by paper, the USPTO announced last week that it will finally be doing away with the requirement for duplicate copies of forms required for processing fees (e.g., an authorization to charge a deposit account). Before Image File Wrappers (IFWs), when paper filing was an Applicant’s only option, duplicate copies…