Does IP theft promote terrorism?

…Ronald K. Noble, the Secretary General of Interpol has previously voiced concern that intellectual property crime “is becoming the preferred method of funding for a number of terrorist groups” including Al-Queda and Hezbollah…

IP Theft Funding Organized Crime and Terrorism by Chris Guinn, at Thomas, Kayden, Horstemeyer & Risley.

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Your daily dose of USPTO News Releases

A. Special Mail Stops for Patent Mail. Print it out for your secretary.

B. Establishment of Mail Stop Post Issue; Revision and Deletion of Certain Mail Stops [PDF]

…Effective immediately, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has established a new mail stop, Mail Stop Post Issue, and several mail stops have been deleted, or changed. Correspondence that should be directed to Mail Stop Post Issue includes correspondence in applications that have issued as a patent, such as requests for changes of address (other than a fee address, which should be addressed to Mail Stop M Correspondence), powers of attorney, revocations of powers of attorney, withdrawal of attorney, and submissions under 37 CFR 1.501. The mail stops that should no longer be used are: Mail Stop Application Number; Mail Stop CPA; Mail Stop Design; Mail Stop Non-Fee Amendment; Mail Stop Patent Application; and Mail Stop Provisional Patent Application…

C. Request for Alert Concerning Submitted Petitions [PDF]

…To help assure prompt and proper service to the public, the Office is requesting applicants to assist the Office to process petitions by sending an e-mail alert to the office, in accordance with the following temporary procedures. Petitions Types Affected: Petitions that are decided by the Office of the Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy (listed in MPEP § 1002.02(b)), including the Office of Patent Legal Administration (OPLA) and the Office of Petitions. Examples of the most common petitions of these types are petitions to revive applications that are abandoned due to failure to respond to an Office action, petitions to withdraw an application from issue, petitions for patent term adjustments. Consult MPEP § 1002.02(b) for the full list of affected petitions…

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Patent practice wisdom

We have a new receptionist and we have all be giving her tidbits of patent practice wisdom as we think of them. Earlier I told her that if the question is “Does the Patent Office charge a fee for this?” the answer is almost always “Yes.” My secretary then made the point that the size of the fee is directly porportional to how bad you want/need the USPTO to do something. Considering the $8,800 inter parties reexamination fee and the $665 petition to revive an unintentionally abandoned application fee, what a brilliant point!

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This week’s Official Gazette Notices

Official Gazette Notices for 27 April 2004 Usual sections/notices plus: “Notice of Pilot Program to Permit Pre-First Office Action Interview for Applications Assigned to Art Units 3624 and 3628 and Request for Comments on Pilot Program.”

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Provisional Patent Application FAQ

What is a provisional patent application (hereinafter “PPA”)?

As a result of GATT, the U.S. Patent System added this new form of application in 1995. A PPA is basically a temporary (provisional) patent application that goes irretrievably abandoned one year from the date of filing. If the applicant wishes to keep the priority date of the PPA, the PPA must either be converted to a non-provisional patent application (NPPA) OR a NPPA must be filed claiming priority from the PPA. Rather than reinvent the wheel, I’ll refer you to a more detailed explanation on the USPTO site called “Provisional Application for Patent.”

What are some of the advantages of a PPA?

1. Short term financial considerations. The PPA has a lower filing fee ($100 vs. $500 (NPPA)).

2. Emergencies. Sometimes an emergency filing is all you can garnish…i.e., the situation where the client comes into your office to talk about the tradeshow they are going to in the morning.

3. Term. Theoretically, by first filing a PPA, an applicant can push the term of its issued patent back a year (patents expire 20 years from the date of filing of a NPPA…not of the earlier filed PPA).

What are some of the disadvantages of a PPA?

1. Long term financial considerations. If you have a patent attorney draft two applications (the PPA followed by a NPPA)…you are going to pay more attorneys fees.

2. Time. Time is money. Let’s assume an applicant has chosen to file a PPA and wait the full year until the NPPA is filed. Being that most buyers want to buy an issued patent instead of a pending patent application…said applicant has theoretically needlessly drawn out the time until he/she can be bought out.

Another thing to consider:  File Provisional Applications with Declarations.  See this APLF patent update.

UPDATE 1:  Corrected filing fee [November 19, 2004].  UPDATE 2:  Corrected filing fee [June 28, 2005].

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IPO: Top 300 Patent Owners (2003)

The IPO has published its list (in PDF format) of the top 300 U.S. patent owners for 2003. The top ten are:
1. IBM (3415 patents)
2. Hitachi
3. Vanon
4. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.
5. Hewlett-Packard
6. Micron Technology (way to go, Idaho!!)
7. Intel
8. General Electric
9. Fujitsu
10. Siemens
Additionally, it looks like there may be more rocket scientists in the Navy (358 patents) than at NASA (80 patents).

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USPTO Notice re: tables

Notice that Lengthy Tables will be Published Differently in Patents, Statutory Invention Registrations and Patent Application Publications And Notice of Pilot Program With Respect to Lengthy Tables [pdf]

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USPTO “save a tree” program continues

USPTO to Provide Electronic Access to Cited U.S. Patent References with Office Actions and Cease Supplying Paper Copies [pdf]

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USPTO Notice re: new mail stop - secrecy order; fax number - expedited foreign filing license

USPTO Notice re: Establishment of New Mail Stop L&R (applications subject to a secrecy order, or are national security classified); FAX Number for Requests for Expedited Foreign Filing License [PDF]

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Confidential Information in File Wrappers

Reminder of the Proper Procedure for Filing Confidential Information Pursuant to MPEP 724.02 [PDF]

Five page memo. Essentially…if it is a trade secret or confidential, follow MPEP 724.02 or it will be scanned like everything else…

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