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United States Patent and Trademark Office › Patents › Inventors

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce that serves a fundamental role in the U.S. intellectual property system by issuing patents and registering trademarks.... more +
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce that serves a fundamental role in the U.S. intellectual property system by issuing patents and registering trademarks.    less -
Foster Swift Collins & Smith

IP Monday: Provisional vs. Non-Provisional Patents — When to File What

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In the U.S., patent rights generally go to the first inventor to file — not the first to invent. Filing early secures your place in line. But the type of application you choose (provisional vs. non-provisional) can...more

King & Spalding

Live Long and Patent: Lessons from Captain Kirk’s Encounter with the PTAB

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In a tale that boldly goes where few celebrity inventors have gone before, William Shatner—yes, that William Shatner—alongside two co-inventors, filed a patent application for a “Smartphone Organization System and...more

Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C.

Federal Circuit Issues First Decision on Litigated AIA Derivation Proceeding

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In Global Health Solutions LLC v. Selner, the Federal Circuit addressed for the first time an appeal from a derivation proceeding litigated before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) under the America Invents Act (AIA)....more

Baker Botts L.L.P.

Patent Application Prosecution Timeline: What Startup Leaders Need to Know

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For startup founders and CTOs navigating the patent landscape, understanding the prosecution timeline is essential for strategic planning and resource allocation. After filing your patent application with the USPTO, the...more

Ropes & Gray LLP

Best Practices for Diligencing Chain-of-Title for Post-AIA Patent Applications with Assignee-Applicants

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Patent diligence in the context of M&A and other types of commercial transactions typically involves confirmation of a patent’s chain-of-title ownership, from initial inventors through to the current assignee-owner. The...more

Baker Botts L.L.P.

The Provisional Patent Trap—Why Cutting Corners Can Place Startup IP Rights at Risk

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For startups sensitive to cash burn rate, provisional patent applications often seem like the perfect solution—lower filing fees, simplified requirements, and a full year to file the "real" application. However, this...more

Loeb & Loeb LLP

AI and Patents: Practical Takeaways from Our Recent AI Roundtables

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As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly embedded in product development and business operations, in-house legal teams are facing new and nuanced challenges at the intersection of intellectual property law and AI....more

Goodwin

What European Medtechs Should Know About the US Patent System

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As noted in the first article in our Medtech Coming to America series, “US Emerging as Top Global Medtech Destination,” perceived regulatory advantages are prompting European medtechs to enter the US market earlier in their...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

Death and Taxes Should not be Certainties for the Patent System

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The Department of Commerce has floated a proposal to tax U.S. patent holdings as a means of reducing the national debt, as outlined in a recent Wall Street Journal article. It is a bad idea that reflects a troubling...more

Jones Day

Inventor Testimony of Reduction Date Leads to Denial

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The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) denied institution of an inter partes review (IPR) brought by Par-Kan Company, LLC against Unverferth Manufacturing Company regarding U.S. Patent No. 8,967,940 (“the ‘940 patent”). ...more

Dickinson Wright

2025 Patent Filing Costs Rise: USPTO Fee Update and Response Strategies

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In January 2025, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) implemented a broad set of fee increases and structural adjustments intended to address rising operational costs and encourage more efficient patent...more

ArentFox Schiff

USPTO to Launch AI-Powered Image-Based Search Tool for Design Patents Amidst New Legal Standards

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The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has announced the upcoming launch of an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered image-based prior-art search tool for design patents, scheduled to go live on October 1, 2025 (fiscal...more

Jones Day

Discretionary Denial Where Inventors Petitioned for Unpatentability

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Coke Morgan Stewart, the acting director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”), exercised discretion under 35 U.S.C. § 314(a) to deny Tessell’s (“Petitioner’s”) petition in favor of Nutanix (“Patent...more

Quarles & Brady LLP

AI Search Tool Coming to Design Patent Examination

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The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has announced the rollout of DesignVision, an advanced AI‑powered image search tool now integrated into the examination system for U.S. design patent applications. According to the...more

A&O Shearman

The Federal Circuit Rejects PTAB’s Use Of Traditional Construction Of “Consisting Essentially Of”

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On June 30, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit vacated a decision by the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (the “Board”) and remanded the case for further proceedings using a narrower construction of the...more

Saul Ewing LLP

USPTO Increases Annual Limit for Prioritized Patent Examination Program: "Track One"

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On July 7, 2025, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) announced that, starting July 8, 2025, the Office will be increasing the number of prioritized patent examination requests that may be accepted from...more

DarrowEverett LLP

AI Created It—But Do You Own It? IP Issues Explained

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As artificial intelligence (AI) technologies increasingly generate content, designs, code, inventions, and even music, businesses face a pressing legal question: who owns the output when a machine creates it? The legal...more

McDermott Will & Schulte

Looks like estoppel, sounds like estoppel … but it’s just director discretion

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The acting director of the US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) granted a patent owner’s request for discretionary denial and denied institution of an inter partes review (IPR) proceeding, finding that the petitioner engaged in...more

Maynard Nexsen

A Guide for Successful Patent Disclosures from Start-Ups to Large Companies

Maynard Nexsen on

The quality of a patent begins to take shape at the time of disclosure. An inadequate disclosure can greatly affect the quality of the patent. The level of sophistication of a client typically dictates the quality of patent...more

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt PC

Latest Federal Court Cases: The Regents of the University of California v. The Broad Institute

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The Regents of the University of California v. The Broad Institute, Inc., Appeal Nos. 2022-1594, -1653 (Fed. Cir. May 12, 2025) Must an inventor know their invention will work to demonstrate that they “conceived” of it? ...more

Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks, P.C.

Broadening Your (Patent) Protection

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In the fast-paced world of innovation, inventors sometimes realize that their patents do not fully protect their inventions until after the patent issues. If the patent family has an application still pending at the patent...more

Womble Bond Dickinson

USPTO's AI Patent Eligibility Guidance, Vincent Look

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In 2024, the USPTO published guidance on whether an AI-based invention is patent eligible. The guidance includes three hypothetical inventions, including one relating to using an artificial neural network for data anomaly...more

Jones Day

Innovative Insights: Legal Updates in Life Sciences | First Quarter 2025

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Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing life science R&D (particularly in the realm of drug discovery) and challenging the traditional "human inventorship" requirement for U.S. patents. Recent guidance from the USPTO...more

Jones Day

Blurring the Line Between the Dry and Wet Lab: Joint Inventorship in AI-Assisted Life Science Inventions

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In 2024, not one but two Nobel Prizes (in Chemistry and Physics) were awarded to researchers for their work in artificial intelligence ("AI"). Particularly noteworthy for the life science community is the Nobel Prize in...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Innovation Madness: The Ultimate Basketball Patent Bracket. 14 inventions. 1 champion. Who will cut down the net?

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The journey from Dr. James Naismith’s invention of basketball in 1891 to today’s fast-paced, high-flying game is a story of constant innovation—one that perfectly showcases the importance of intellectual property....more

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