Our post of March 19, 2024, makes the good point that patent examiners are not the enemy. We often see patenty people who seem to want to begin each Office Action (“OA”) response with, “Hello. You rejected my patent application. Prepare to die.” In reality, we and the patent examiners share a duty to bring to issue the correct patent — the one with a scope that the inventors deserve in law and equity — not the broadest one conceivable in some alternate universe (Hear us, patent litigators,) nor the narrowest spawn of desolation. Agreed. Now, onward to implement this…
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U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Proposes New Fees and Significant Fee Increases That Will Change Future Patent Practices
In a recent Notice of Proposed Rule Making, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has unveiled a series of proposed patent fee changes that are set to take effect in fiscal year 2025. It was announced that these changes aim to better align the agency’s fee structure with the costs associated with processing patent filings. Many of these proposed fee changes are negligible; however, some proposed changes include significant increases to filing fees and appeal fees as well as new fees that will likely influence applicant strategy at the drafting, filing, and prosecution stages of the application process….
The Examiner is Not the Enemy
The Case for Examiner Interviews to Best Serve the Client’s Interests Opinions tend to vary as to the relative merits of IP attorneys conducting personal interviews with Examiners at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Some clients insist on them; others advocate against. Some IP attorneys welcome them in earnest; others shy away. In our experience, more times than not, the Examiner Interview serves not only to achieve a better outcome for the client, but it can actually save the client both time and expense in the long term — in many cases, even in the short term. When executed…