The USPTO’s 2007-2012 Strategic Plan outlines a number of initiatives to improve patent quality and timeliness. Among those initiatives is a Peer Reviewed Prior Art pilot, which is designed to determine the extent to which the organized submission of documents together with comments by the public might provide useful art for Examiners. Under the program,…
Support Your Favorite Patent Blogs
Gene Quinn over at IP Watchdog is conducting a survey to determine the top patent blogs. The survey asks only the following two questions. What is your favorite blog? Which patent blogs do you regularly read? Votes are cast by making selections from a list of patent blogs. If you think us deserving enough of…
A Few Useful Sections Of The Manual Of Patent Examining Procedure
As regular readers of this blog know, I advocate using the USPTO’s Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP) as primary authority during prosecution. I discussed my reasons for doing so in this earlier post. Basically, it is the USPTO’s official manual, so its instructions to Examiners are beyond dispute. From time to time, when responding…
Application Data Sheets And How They Help
An application data sheet (ADS) is a document that provides the bibliographic data for an application to the USPTO. The USPTO prefers, but does not require, the use of an ADS. An ADS can be advantageous, however, because it tends to reduce errors in the conversion/recordation of application data into the USPTO’s official electronic data…
Exercise Care When Selecting International Searching Authorities
The USPTO recently published a Notice to applicants filing applications under the PCT in the United States Receiving Office (RO/US) to exercise care in selecting a competent International Searching Authority (ISA) for claimed subject matter. The USPTO reminds applicants that: (1) the EPO will not act as an ISA/IPEA for applications with one or more…