USPTO Collaborates with the Noun Project

From the USPTO Monthly Review:

On August 28, the USPTO invited the public to participate in its first “Iconathon” at the USPTO campus in Alexandria, Va. An iconathon is a collaborative process where community members work together to create icons that universally represent complex concepts. In this case, designers, students, civic activists, and intellectual property enthusiasts collaborated with Noun Project to create a set of icons representing concepts related to intellectual property (IP). They will be released into the public domain for use by the USPTO and other government agencies and will be available for anyone to use through Noun Project.

Matters Related to First Inventor to File

The Federal Register, Vol. 80, No. 184 (Wed., Sept. 23, 2015) on pages 57346-57347 has a comment request on "Matters Related to First Inventor to File." The Department of Commerce is collecting information with the following needs and uses:

This information collection is necessary so that patent applicants and/or patentees may: (1) Provide a statement if a nonprovisional application filed on or after March 16, 2013, claims the benefit of the filing date of a foreign, provisional, or nonprovisional application filed prior to March 16, 2013, and also contains, or contained at any time, a claim to a claimed invention that has an effective filing date on or after March 16, 2013; (2) provide a statement if a nonprovisional application filed on or after March 16, 2013, claims the benefit of the filing date of a foreign, provisional, or nonprovisional application filed prior to March 16, 2013, does not contain a claim to a claimed invention that has an effective filing date on or after March 16, 2013, but discloses subject matter not also disclosed in the foreign, provisional, or nonprovisional application; (3) identify the inventor, and ownership on the effective filing date, of each claimed invention in an application or patent with more than one named inventor, when necessary for purposes of a USPTO proceeding; and (4) show that a disclosure was by the inventor or joint inventor, or was by a party who obtained the subject matter from the inventor or a joint inventor, or that there was a prior public disclosure by the inventor or a joint inventor, or by a party who obtained the subject matter from the inventor or a joint inventor.

For more information: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2015-09-23/html/2015-24144.htm

Collaboration Search Pilot Program - USPTO with JPO (Japan) and with KIPO (Korea)

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has signed an agreement with the Japan Patent Office (JPO) and a second with the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) to launch the Collaboration Search Pilot Program (CSP). The purpose of this pilot is to provide stakeholders with search results from two offices early in the examination process so the applicant can determine their next steps in patent prosecution. Once a petition has been granted by both offices, the application will be accelerated in both offices allowing for faster prosecution.

The pilot program will run for two years. The JPO Pilot began August 1, 2015 and the KIPO Pilot September 1, 2015.

For more information, please see the CSP website at http://www.uspto.gov/patents-getting-started/international-protection/collaborative-search-pilot-program-csp or email CSP@USPTO.GOV.

Streamlined, Expedited Patent Appeal Pilot for Small Entities

The Federal Register Vol. 80, No. 178 (Tues., Sept. 15, 2015) on pages 55339-55341 contains the following notice:

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has a procedure under which an application will be advanced out of turn (accorded special status) for examination if the applicant files a petition to make special with the appropriate showing. The USPTO is providing a temporary basis (the Streamlined, Expedited Patent Appeal Pilot for Small Entities) under which a small or micro entity appellant may have an ex parte appeal to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (Board) accorded special status if the appellant has only a single appeal pending before the Board and the appellant agrees to streamline the appeal. Specifically, the appeal must not involve any claim subject to a rejection for lack of written description, enablement, or best mode, or for indefiniteness, and the appellant must agree to the disposition of all claims subject to each ground of rejection as a single group and waive any request for an oral hearing. The Streamlined, Expedited Patent Appeal Pilot for Small Entities will allow small or micro entity appellants who streamline their appeals to have greater control over the priority with which their appeals are decided.

DATES: Effective Date: September 18, 2015.

Duration: The Streamlined, Expedited Patent Appeal Pilot for Small Entities is being adopted on a temporary basis and [[Page 55340]] will run until two thousand (2,000) appeals have been accorded special status under the pilot, or until September 16, 2016, whichever occurs earlier.

See the complete notice at: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2015-09-15/html/2015-23090.htm