Your Hidden Stake in Federal Patent Success By Craig Scheuern It is no secret that securing patent protection for promising inventions remains an important strategic and tactical consideration in today’s fast-paced, innovation-driven global economy. From the perspective of a lowly taxpayer, however, what possible good could come from the apparently futile act of shuffling taxpayer dollars between federal agencies – the United States Patent Office and an inventing agency acting as patent applicant – so that the latter can ultimately bar others from making, using, offering to sell, or selling the patented, taxpayer-funded invention? The situation is somewhat clearer in a…
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Turmoil at the U.S. Patent Office—and Why It Matters for Your IP Strategy
By Mark Levine and Quincy Harrison You may have heard about the recent budget cuts, hiring freezes, and likely staffing reductions at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), with some experts even going so far as to declare that “The US Patent System Is in Crisis.” The impact is real. And both patent applicants and their legal counsel should be taking strategic measures to mitigate that impact to the greatest extent possible. The USPTO has long been one of the rare self-funded, revenue-positive government agencies. Historically, the Patent Office has reinvested those revenues to reduce delays, improve examiner…
To Search or Not to Search? That is the Question.
With Patentability and Freedom to Operate Searches, Each Path Can Yield Risk or Reward. By Jean McCarthy Like “Paper or Plastic?” the choice involves genuine tradeoffs, and the answer is: “it depends.” But even more so than the perennial checkout question at the supermarket, the decision as to whether inventors and their counsel should conduct a patentability search prior to investing time and resources into a particular technology must be weighed with careful consideration. A search might uncover clear barriers and could provide a path to navigate the prior art, but some see potential downsides. The resistance to “slowing things…