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 now available at www.laipla.net/news-blog/blog.

  • On February 18, 2013 Hal provided a new paper, called “The ‘Gold Standard’ Grace Period, Fade to Black,” which discusses the effect of patent reform on the U.S. pre-filing grace period and makes suggestions for international adoption of a grace period for disclosures before patent filings.
  • The February 27, 2013 email discussed Synopsys v. Mentor Graphics, Case IPR 2012-00041, Patent 6,947,882 B1 (PTAB 2013(Bisk, APJ), which provided an examination of initial inter partes review petitions.

IPWatchdog – a patents and patent law blog – IPwatchdog.com

  • On February 10, 2013 the IP Watchdog stated that the USPTO is considering patent small claims proceedings.
  • A February 25, 2013 post announces that the USPTO releases a new version of the IP Awareness Assessment Tool.
  • The March 14, 2013 post discusses In re Jeffrey Hubbell, wherein an inventor changing jobs created a double patenting problem.gma

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

  • On February 19, 2013 the post discussed the oral arguments in the Supreme Court’s Bowman v. Monsanto Co., case.
  • The March 18, 2013 post indicates that the USPTO has extended the comment period regarding potential practices that applicants can employ in drafting patent applications to facilitate  examination and bring more certainty to the scope of issued patents. The new deadline for comments is April 15, 2013.

Spicy IP – An IP blog focusing on India – spicyipindia.blogspot.com/

  • On March 10, 2013 a post discussed a recent study by Jonathan Band and Jonathan Gerafi, titled “Foreign Ownership of Firms in IP-Intensive Industries,” questioning whether U.S. firms do not dominate the intellectual property market.

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

  • On February 17, 2013 Professor Crouch provided a histogram on the number of figures in a set of U.S. design patents over several years. Looks like seven is a lucky number.
  • The March 5, 2013 post discussed Move, Inc. v. Real Estate Alliance, 2012-1342, (Fed. Cir., March 4, 2013) regarding joint and divided infringement.
  • The March 15, 2013 post announced that the Federal Circuit will rehear en banc Lighting Ballast v. Philips Electronics to reconsider de novo review of claim constructions by district courts.

USPTO – the PTO’s website – uspto.gov

  • In the March 19, 2013 Official Gazette, the USPTO issued examination guidelines for implementing the First Inventor to File provisions.

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

  • AIPLA’s Spring Meeting is May 1-3, 2013 in Seattle, Washington.

Miscellaneous

  • The next Chisum Patent Academy sessions are in Seattle on July 31 – August 2, 2013 and August 5-7, 2013. www.chisumpatentacademy.com.

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.