OC Patent Lawyer

Recent Posts from OC Patent Lawyer

• Rescission of Proposed Rules to Continuation and Claims Practice

  The rules regarding continuation practice and claim practice which were proposed and would have been implemented in 2007 have been enjoined ever since. On September 21, 2009, the Patent Office with GlaxoSmithKline and Dr. Tafas…

• Interview the Examiner Prior to First Office Action

  The Patent Office has continued the First Action Interview Pilot Program effective October 1, 2009 until April 1, 2010. During the examination process, the examiner assigned to a patent application typically does not hold an…

• Reverse Payments

  The typical payment in a patent litigation dispute flows from the alleged infringer to the patentee. The payment may represent damages incurred by the patentee to make the patentee whole and/or a licensing royalty fee…

• Safe Harbor Provision for Divisional Patent Applications

  The patent statute (35 USC § 121) indicates that divisional patent applications cannot be receive a double patenting rejection based on claims of a parent application. This is commonly known as the safe harbor provision…

• Updated Look Is Obvious

  During examination of a patent application, the examiner and patent applicant may disagree on various issues such as claim interpretation, patentable subject matter, written description, novelty, obviousness, etc. After the examiner has rejected the patent…

• Product By Process Claims

  One of the most important sections of a patent specification is the claims. The reason is that the claims define the metes and bounds of patent protection afforded under the patent. For example, the scope…

• Specific Intent Required for Active Inducement of Patent Infringement

  Liability for patent infringement may arise directly or indirectly. For direct patent infringement liability, a defendant makes, uses, sells, offers for sale or imports a product that infringes a patent. For indirect patent infringement liability,…

• Product By Process Claims

  The claims define the metes and bounds of patent protection afforded under a patent. The claims can be drafted in many different ways. For example, the claims can recite a method, an apparatus or a…

• Reducing Scope of Doctrine of Equivalents Via Ensnarement Defense

  As previously discussed in “Avoiding Patent Infringement,” the claims define the metes and bounds of patent protection afforded under a patent.  The claims can be infringed either literally which means that the alleged infringer practiced…

• What types of inventions are eligible for patent protection?

  There are four general categories of inventions that are eligible for patent protection. Specifically, they are processes, machines, manufactures and compositions of matter or their improvements. The following case, In re Ferguson, 2007-1232 (Fed. Cir.…