Patent Applications, Patent Examinations, America Invents Act

USPTO Discontinues Accelerated Examination for Utility Patent Applications, but Track 1 Remains a Good Option

McCarter & English, LLP on 6/19/2025

The USPTO recently announced that the Accelerated Examination program will be discontinued as of July 10, 2025. Given that the program has had limited use over the past decade, with fewer than 100 Accelerated Examination...more

USPTO Issues Updated Guidance on Obviousness

Foley & Lardner LLP on 4/23/2024

For the first time in nearly 15 years, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued “Updated Guidance for Making a Proper Determination of Obviousness” under the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in KSR Int’l Co. v....more

Overlooked Changes To Patent Cooperation Treaty Practice - Law360

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP on 5/17/2018

The recent Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd. case brought to light a little-known quirk in how national stage patent applications affect the length of one’s patent term. That case involved a drug company losing five days of...more

Change Is Coming (Maybe): Reviewing the AIA Reviews and 101 “Clarity”

Jones Day on 5/1/2018

On April 18, 2018, the Director of the USPTO Andrei Iancu informed the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee that he aims to propose changes to America Invents Act reviews by this summer 2018. The Director told the Committee that...more

PTAB Designates Informative Decisions on Discretionary Denial of Institution for Prior Art Previously Presented to the Office

Knobbe Martens on 4/13/2018

On March 21, 2018, the PTAB designated two decisions as “informative” that denied institution for presenting prior art that had been previously presented during prosecution. Becton, Dickinson & Co. v. B. Braun Melsungen AG,...more

Track One: Still the One for Accelerating Patent Examination in the US?

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C. on 5/10/2017

Speed is everything in the business world. The fastest company to market wins a competitive advantage. However, investors are often reluctant to back new products that do not have patent protection, and backlogs at the US...more