The Law – The United States is unique in the industrialized world in that an inventor must be named as the applicant for a patent, rather than his employer. Federal statute 35 […]
Inventorship: Who Thunk Of It?
John Hammond and Bob Gunderman
Structural Weaknesses of the “Quick and Dirty” Provisional Patent Application
“The Provisional Application for Patent”- Under federal statute 35 USC 111(b), an applicant may file a “provisional application for patent,” which must include a specification, i.e., a written description of the invention, […]
The NDA – A Key Agreement in Business Operations
A Healthy Paranoia – Protection of intellectual property can be a critical task for an enterprise. This is often the case from the earliest gestation of a business when a new invention […]
A Hypothetical Case – of Keeping an Invention From Going to the Dogs
The Opportunity (1) – Dave is the founder of Catalyst Concepts, a small product design firm. He’s been looking for years to get some business from Gigatron Inc., a major player in […]
The Invention Disclosure- Putting a Stake in the Ground
A Good Habit to Get Into – In the United States, a limited monopoly in the form of a patent may be granted to the first to invent, rather than the first […]
Patent Misuse – A New Defense Against Patent Abuse?
The Property Right – a Review – Regular readers of this column will recall that a patent is a property right (1) – the right to exclude others from making, using, or selling […]
…And Last But Not Least – The New “First to File” Statute Under the AIA
Encore – For slightly over a year now, the majority of our columns have covered various provisions of the America Invents Act, which became law on September 16, 2011. And for good […]
The Prioritized Examination Option Under the AIA
“How fast you wanna go?” There is a scene in the movie Mad Max where Grease Rat says, “Like the sign says, ‘Speed’s just a question of money. How fast you wanna […]
Rules of Atonement – Supplemental Examination Under the AIA
A New Type of Patent Examination – Section 12 of the America Invents Act is directed to a new examination procedure in the USPTO known as supplemental examination. The provisions of Section […]
Playing Defense – Post-Grant Review Under the AIA
Two New Defenses, and an Old One Modified – In some respects, filing a patent application and obtaining a patent to protect an invention might be considered “playing offense” – proactively pursuing […]
