This column highlights some of the more notable recent internet notices, newsletters and blogs dealing with IP prosecution issues.

Hal Wegner’s email newsletter – a lot of great stuff – Contact: hwegner@foley.com.
Hal’s blog is also available at www.laipla.net/news-blog/blog.

  • On October 9, 2013, Hal’s email newsletter discussed the controversial proposal by the Seventh Circuit Chief Judge to end Federal Circuit exclusive appellate patent jurisdiction.
  • On October 23, 2013, Hal linked to an analysis of the Goodlatte patent reform legislation.
  • In an October 31, 2013 post, Hal reported on the fiscal year 2013 patent application statistics, including the fact that the USPTO has made strides towards reducing the first action backlog and the Request for Continued Examination backlog.

Patent Docs – A patent blog – patentdocs.typepad.com/patent_docs

  • On October 7, 2013, Edward Reines submitted an article defending exclusive appellate patent jurisdiction for the Federal Circuit.
  • The October 17, 2013 blog announces that the European Patent Office will soon rescind the deadline for filing divisional patent applications.

Patently-O – a blog written by Dennis Crouch – www.patentlyo.com.

  • Professor Crouch asked “What is an Exceptional Case such that Court Should Award Attorney Fees?” in his October 3, 2013 post.
  • The October 22, 2013 post discussed the deadlines for inter partes reviews and post-grant reviews of covered business method patents.
  • An October 28, 2013 article discussed various pending bills for patent reform in 2013.
  • On October 29, 2013, Professor Crouch discussed the Federal Circuit’s split opinion in Synthes USA, LLC v. Spinal Kinetics, Inc., 2013-1047, -1059 (Fed. Cir., October 29, 2013) that patent claims broadened during prosecution had failed the written description requirement.

USPTO – the PTO’s website – uspto.gov

  • The October 1, 2013 press release (Press Release 13-27) announced that on October 30, 2013 the U.S. Department of Commerce will host a meeting seeking comments on the recent “Copyright Policy, Creativity, and Innovation in the Digital Economy” report.
  • Attention dinosaurs, the October 29, 2013 Official Gazette announced that the USPTO has stopped mailing paper copies of cited written opinions documents in international applications.

AIPLA – the profession’s national organization – see AIPLA.org

  • From January 29, through February 1, 2014, the AIPLA holds its Mid-Winter Institute in Phoenix, Arizona.

Miscellaneous –

For more information about any of the patent topics mentioned consult Patent Application Practice. Trademark topics are discussed in Trademark Registration Practice. Both are published by West and updated twice a year. For litigation questions, contact Fred Douglas at 949/293-0442 or by email at fdouglas@cox.net.