Yesterday the patent blog Patently-O had an interesting guest editorial on the subject of the presidential candidates’ respective positions (or absence thereof) on U.S. patent reform. The gist of this editorial is that Sen. Obama has and will continue to take patent issues “seriously” while Sen. McCain has avoided this important subject for political expediency….
Some Comments On RCEs, Submissions, And RCE Strategy
RCE Basics A Request for Continued Examination (RCE) is a request to continue prosecution of an application. Essentially, RCE practice can be thought of as a mechanism to buy another full examination of an application without having to refile it. An application in which an RCE is filed stays with the same Examiner and keeps…
An Applicant Knows More About Their Invention Than An Examiner – USPTO Director Jon Dudas
The USPTO website has a new story about the inclusion of USPTO Director Jon Dudas in Managing Intellectual Property Magazine’s 2008 “Top 50 Most Influential People in IP.” Apart from the merits of the story (forgive me, but I think it is self-evident that such a list would necessarily include the Director of the USPTO),…
A Discussion Of Strategies To Address Successive Non-Final Office Actions That Are Not Advancing Prosecution
In an earlier post, I discussed the Office’s policy of compact prosecution and how that policy affects patent prosecution in the USPTO. Under that policy, second Office actions are usually made final, except in limited circumstances. Consequently, except for an allowance or an indication of allowable subject matter, a response that triggers a non-final Office…
Appealing Non-Final Rejections In Continuing Applications
A common prosecution strategy when an Office action indicates allowed claims or allowable subject matter is to cancel the rejected subject matter and continue prosecuting that canceled subject matter in a continuing application. This strategy, of course, results in the relatively rapid issuance of a patent. An interesting aspect of this strategy is that some…