Effective January 19, 2025, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will implement significant changes to patent fees following the last review in fiscal year 2021. According to the final rule published on November 20, 2024, the USPTO will
Prosecution First Blog
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Amendments to drawings filed after allowance are entered by the USPTO’s Office of Publications. If such an amendment is forwarded to the examiner, the examiner should forward or return the application to the Office of Publications. The examiner should not…
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The USPTO’s e-Petitions cannot be granted for petitions to revive an abandoned application if:Read more
No More AFCP 2.0!
In a Notice by the U.S. Patent and Trademark office dated October 1, 2024, the USPTO announced that the After Final Consideration Pilot Program 2.0 (AFCP 2.0) will end on December 14, 2024.Read more
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An International Application is not a prior application as to the National Stage (they are legally the same application), therefore amended 37 CFR 1.78(a)(2) (Claiming benefit of earlier filing date and cross-references to other applications) does not apply.Read more
USPTO’s First-Time Filer Expedited Examination Pilot Program
The USPTO’s First-Time Filer Expedited Examination Pilot Program is part of a strategy to encourage more equity and diversity in innovation. The target is inventors new to the patent application process, including those historically geographically and economically excluded.Read more
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For PCT applications, until international publication (18 months after the priority date), no third party is allowed access to an applicant’s international application unless applicant requests or authorizes it. If applicant wishes to withdraw the application (and applicant does so…
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For PCT applications, as a rule, an international search is carried out for all international applications. There are instances, however, where the International Searching Authority (ISA) will not be able to carry out a search. For example, where the international…
The USPTO’s “Experimental Use Exception Request for Comments”
The USPTO released “Experimental Use Exception Request for Comments” in the Federal Register on Friday June 28, 2024. 89 Fed. Reg. 53,963 (June 28, 2024). Read more