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Disclaimer Practice in Patents and Patent Applications
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) proposes to amend the rules of practice to expand when certain types of patent applicants and patentees may, subject to other conditions, obtain or enforce a second patent for an invention that is similar (i.e., patentably indistinct) to a first patent. Ordinarily, in examination before the...
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Small Entity Government Use License Exception
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) is amending the rules of practice in patent cases to clarify and expand exceptions to the rule pertaining to government use licenses and their effect on small entity status for purposes of paying reduced patent fees. The rule change is designed to support independent inventors,...
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Trademark Fee Adjustment
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office or USPTO) is setting or adjusting certain trademark fees, as authorized by the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA), as amended by the Study of Underrepresented Classes Chasing Engineering and Science Success Act of 2018 (SUCCESS Act). The changes will allow the USPTO to continue to recover...
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Setting and Adjusting Patent Fees During Fiscal Year 2020
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office or USPTO) sets or adjusts patent fees as authorized by the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (Act or AIA), as amended by the Study of Underrepresented Classes Chasing Engineering and Science Success Act of 2018 (SUCCESS Act). The USPTO is a business-like operation where the demand for patent...
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Changes to Representation of Others Before the United States Patent and Trademark Office
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) proposes to amend the Rules of Practice in Patent Cases and the rules regarding Representation of Others before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. This rulemaking proposes to align the USPTO Rules of Professional Conduct more closely with the ABA Model Rules of...
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Trademark Fee Adjustment
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office or USPTO) proposes to set or adjust certain trademark fees, as authorized by the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA), as amended by the Study of Underrepresented Classes Chasing Engineering and Science Success Act of 2018 (SUCCESS Act). The proposed fees are intended to recover the...
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Patent Term Adjustment Reductions in View of the Federal Circuit Decision in Supernus Pharm., Inc. v. Iancu.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) is revising the rules of practice pertaining to patent term adjustment in view of the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Federal Circuit) in Supernus Pharm., Inc. v. Iancu (Supernus). The Federal Circuit in Supernus held that a reduction of patent term...
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Small Entity Government Use License Exception
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) is proposing to amend the rules of practice in patent cases to clarify and expand exceptions to the rule pertaining to government use licenses and their effect on small entity status for purposes of paying reduced patent fees so as to support independent inventors, small business...
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Removal of Regulations Governing Requests for Presidential Proclamations Under the Semiconductor Chip Protection Act of 1984 (SCPA) and Certain Rules of Practice Relating to Registration To Practice and Discipline
In accordance with Executive Order 13777, ``Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda,'' and Executive Order 13771, ``Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs,'' the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) proposes to remove its regulations governing requests for Presidential Proclamations under the Semiconductor...
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Patent Term Adjustment Reductions in View of the Federal Circuit Decision in Supernus Pharm., Inc.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office) is proposing to revise the rules of practice pertaining to patent term adjustment in view of the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Federal Circuit) in Supernus Pharm., Inc. v. Iancu (Supernus). The Federal Circuit in Supernus held that a reduction of patent term...
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Eliminating Unnecessary Regulations
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) hereby amends the Rules of Practice in Patent Cases and Trial Practice Before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) by removing provisions in the Code of Federal Regulations that are no longer necessary. This final rule removes the rules governing reservation clauses, petitions...
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Increase of the Annual Limit on Accepted Requests for Track I Prioritized Examination
The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (America Invents Act) includes provisions for prioritized examination of patent applications, which have been implemented by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) in previous rulemakings. The America Invents Act provides that the Office may not accept more than 10,000 requests for...
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Changes to the Trademark Rules of Practice To Mandate Electronic Filing
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) amends the Rules of Practice in Trademark Cases and the Rules of Practice in Filings Pursuant to the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks to mandate electronic filing of trademark applications and all submissions associated...
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Setting and Adjusting Patent Fees During Fiscal Year 2020
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office or USPTO) proposes to set or adjust patent fees as authorized by the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (Act or AIA), as amended by the Study of Underrepresented Classes Chasing Engineering and Science Success Act of 2018 (SUCCESS Act). The USPTO is a business-like operation where the demand for...
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Requirement of U.S. Licensed Attorney for Foreign Trademark Applicants and Registrants
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) amends the Rules of Practice in Trademark Cases, the Rules of Practice in Filings Pursuant to the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks, and the rules regarding Representation of Others Before the United States Patent and...
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Changes To Eliminate Unnecessary Regulations
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) proposes to remove its regulations governing reservation clauses, petitions from the refusal of a primary examiner to admit an amendment, the publication of amendments to the regulations, and limits that the Director can impose on the number of inter partes reviews and post-grant...
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Setting and Adjusting Patent Fees During Fiscal Year 2017
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office or USPTO) sets or adjusts patent fees as authorized by the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (Act or AIA). The USPTO operates like a business in that external and internal factors affect the demand for patent products and services. The fee adjustments are needed to provide the Office with a...
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July 2017 Revision of Patent Cooperation Treaty Procedures
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) is amending the rules of practice to implement certain amendments made to the Regulations under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) that will take effect on July 1, 2017, concerning the transmittal by a Receiving Office to an International Searching Authority of documents relating...
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Revision of the Duty To Disclose Information in Patent Applications and Reexamination Proceedings
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office or PTO) is proposing revisions to the materiality standard for the duty to disclose information in patent applications and reexamination proceedings (duty of disclosure) in light of a 2011 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Federal Circuit). The Office previously...
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Setting and Adjusting Patent Fees During Fiscal Year 2017
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office or USPTO) proposes to set or adjust patent fees as authorized by the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (Act or AIA). The USPTO is a business- like operation where external factors affect the productivity of the workforce and the demand for patent products and services. The proposed fee...