4
votes
What's obvious when there really is no good prior art?
A similar Rovi/Tivo lawsuit against Netflix concluded with all patents ruled invalid under 101 (non-patentable subject matter). This decision was rendered based on an investigation of the patents ...
- 326
4
votes
Accepted
Multiple inventions in US provisional patent, inventors in split application?
Once any non-provisional application that claims priority from a provisional is published or granted, that provisional is open for public inspection. So yes to question 1.
The provisional itself is ...
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3
votes
Accepted
IP Patent Biotech
As someone who has obtained patent while working for a company I think I can answer your questions. The standard work arrangement is that your work product is owned by the company. Thus any inventions ...
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3
votes
In an independent claim is there any advantage of stating all the critical antecedents up front rather than introducing them individually?
It's purely a stylistic difference, based on how the drafter thinks the claim would be most clearly described. Notably, there is no scope difference.
The real benefit is to allow you to explain each ...
- 6,178
3
votes
When do provisional rights arise for a PCT application?
Can retrospective damages can be sought in states designated by a PCT application before a national phase application is granted?
It depends on the country, as this is not the subject of any ...
- 6,178
3
votes
Accepted
What concrete lessons should software patent applicants learn from Alice vs CLS Bank?
First I should note that the ratio in Alice, while easy to state, is rather hard to apply. Many words have been shed trying to characterise precisely what Alice-style abstractness really is. But the ...
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3
votes
Accepted
Meaning of election and elected/nonelected species
Approximately correct - the species elected and not elected are typically sub-classes of categories of inventions to be claimed. This will encompass some embodiments in each grouping but your ...
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3
votes
Accepted
Obtaining a document cited by the examiner of a US patent
A few years ago publishers of academic journals complained to the USPTO that the whole process of patent prosecution involved much unauthorized copying of their products.
In response the USPTO ...
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2
votes
Accepted
Keep application secret
If the invention is not disclosed in another patent application in another country or patent organization (EPO) that requires publication, then a request for nonpublication can be made AT THE TIME OF ...
2
votes
Extracting a detail from specifications of one patent application to create a new patent application
Q. "Can it then be written up as a separate application?"
A. Yes. Each of the two regular applications should claim priority to the provisional application which you have already filed. To do that, ...
- 469
2
votes
WIPO patent filing vs US patent?
The answer is money. The single WIPO/PCT application (that, itself, costs more than a U.S. application) just starts an application in 140 some countries. To actually proceed in each location costs ...
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2
votes
Does patent US20120072422A1 make it illegal for other companies to sell reference managing software that parses documents for placeholders?
The document you linked to is a patent application. The subsequent patent is US8676780B2. Claims on patents are often narrower than the associated application. You seem fixated on the title of the ...
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2
votes
Accepted
Can I be sued for damages for patent infringement that are more than my actual profit?
Yes,
The damages relate to the loss the patent owner sustained and have nothing to do with how much you made. As in another Q/A, you could give away the product for free and still be liable for ...
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2
votes
Could i Patent something in the USA, not being USA citizen?
Yes, by international treaty, all counties need to treat non-residents no different from anyone else in the world. The U.S. has a method to filing electronically via a web site EFS Web. Anyone in the ...
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2
votes
Is it possible to proceed with patent application when prior art is found for 1, but not all, of the indipendent claims?
Absolutely, patent prosecution is a process. One may amend claim wording to narrow and avoid cited prior art, cancel some claims, or cancel all claims are submit a new set of claims. One may also ...
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2
votes
Accepted
Can a patent issued before Alice, but suspect of not meeting its standards now, be invalidated at the PTAB?
The process to invalidate a patent if the owner does not attempt to enforce it is an Inter Partes Review. They kill from 40%-70% of claims they encounter depending upon who’s method of analysis you ...
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2
votes
For how long does one have the right to say "patent pending" after submitting a provisional patent application in the United States?
There is a $500 per incident penalty for false patent marking. If a application is no longer pending then it would be a false marking to mark newly produced items with that mark. Of course you can ...
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2
votes
Accepted
Effects on continuation-in-part of now-abandoned patent
USD621102 is a granted design patent. The abandoned parent application was a utility patent application. The abandonment of the parent is not, Itself, relevant to the child CIP.
Design patents are ...
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2
votes
Accepted
Does a non-resident need a patent attorney to file a Provisional patent application with the USPTO?
No - any inventor in the world can file an application for their own invention with the USPTO. That includes non-provisionals as well as provisional applications.
This does not include PCT ...
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2
votes
Accepted
Do US software patents hold in the EU and elsewhere in the world?
All patents are territorial. US patents only protect in the US. In principal, so long as you only do business outside the US, a US patent shouldn't stop you.
The cited document is a patent application....
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2
votes
Accepted
Patent Enablement - how do you balance retention of secrets and teaching make and use
In the US it is not the enablement requirement that addresses the secret sauce issue, it is the “best mode” requirement. Inventors and applicants are required to show the best way of implementing the ...
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1
vote
Who gets a "patent grant cover" from the USPTO?
Yes, they get sent to the assignee. It is just a card stock cover stapled to the same patent you can print out online. It does have a cool ribbon glued to it and is sometimes called the "ribboned ...
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1
vote
If the 12 month window for PCT application is missed, is all opportunity lost for foreign patents?
A useful resource for grace periods. Of course, you will need a local attorney for each country to figure out if you fit the requirements.
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1
vote
Is there a statute of limitation on software patents?
This answer relates to US infringement.
Not exactly. One limitation on recovering damages goes the other way in time.
35 U.S. Code § 286 - Time limitation on damages US Code Notes
Except as ...
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