IP News Alerts
USPTO Delays the Planned Non-DOCX Filing Surcharge Fee Yet Again
March 31, 2023
By: Alexander Adam, , Ph.D. and Mary Lou Wakimura
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published a new final rule on March 27, 2023, delaying the effective date of the fee set for filing a Non-DOCX patent application...
USPTO’s First-Time Filer Expedited Examination Pilot Program
March 27, 2023
By: Alice O. Carroll and Christine M. Wise
On March 9, 2023, the USPTO launched a pilot program for first-time filers of U.S. patent applications. The pilot program will provide an expedited first Office Action which includes...
April 2023 Brings Changes in Form and Format at the USPTO
March 23, 2023
By: Mary Lou Wakimura and Alexander Adam, , Ph.D.
Noteworthy changes are coming soon at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in its efforts to modernize and streamline US patenting processes and systems. The changes...
WARHOL: Creator or Infringer?
March 21, 2023
Does an artist have unlimited rights to take another’s work without compensation or permission as the basis for new art? The Supreme Court is about to answer this question in...
USPTO Transition to eGrants from Paper Patents
March 20, 2023
By: Christine M. Wise
On April 18, 2023, the USPTO will move from paper patents to electronically generated patents (eGrants). This applies to all types of patents (utility, design, plant and reissue...
Web3 Blockchain Domain Names: A New Frontier for Trademark Protection
April 15, 2022
By: Giovanna H. Fessenden-Fairbank
Trademark owners once raced to protect their brands by registering .com domain names on the World Wide Web (Web2). It is with a sense of déjà vu that trademark owners...
The Copyright Clash Between Artists: A Quiz
April 14, 2022
“Appropriation Artists,” such as Warhol and Koons, often take an image made by another visual artist, usually a professional photographer, without permission, and incorporate...
Subject Matter Eligibility Responses May be Deferred in USPTO Pilot Program
January 31, 2022
By: Christine M. Wise
On February 1, 2022, the USPTO will launch a Deferred Subject Matter Eligibility Response Pilot Program for qualifying non-provisional patent applications in which the first...
Expedited Examination for COVID-19 Related Patent Applications
January 26, 2022
By: Christine M. Wise
Applicants seeking to patent COVID-19 related inventions may want to consider filing their applications under the USPTO’s COVID-19 prioritized examination pilot program. The...
Implementation of the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020
January 6, 2022
By: John L. DuPré and Timothy J. Meagher
The Trademark Modernization Act (TMA) was enacted in December 2020. In November 2021, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued regulations to implement the TMA....
Epic Games' Battle Royale with Apple - Epic Games, Inc. v. Apple, Inc.
September 16, 2021
By: Giovanna H. Fessenden-Fairbank
Epic Games fails to prove that Apple is a monopolist Apple must change its App Store rules to allow third-party developers to use other payment systems On September...
United States Supreme Court Decision in Arthrex Finds a Constitutional Remedy for the Structure of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board in Post Grant Patent Challenges
June 25, 2021
By: Keith J. Wood
With this ruling, many expect that the USPTO will create a formal procedure by which parties can request a review of decisions in post-grant proceedings by the Director of the USPTO...