Patent Attorneys - Infringement, Litigation, Assessment & Prosecution

Specializing In Patent & IP Issues: Traverse Legal has a registered patent attorney and/or patent agent available to assist you across a wide range of patent matters including: Patent Infringement; Due Diligence; Patent Litigation; Patent Right Enforcement; Patent Indemnity; Patent Prosecution; Patent Protection; Patent Validity and Patentability. Whether you are an inventor or company whose patent rights are being violated, a company looking to extend your intellectual property portfolio or you require a patent litigator, our lawyers can add experience and business judgment to your team.

 

Attorney Katie Horvath: "Traverse Legal's patent attorneys know patent law and pride themselves on advanced litigation techniques which are both cost-effective and budget oriented. When it comes to patent infringement, threat letters, litigation, assessment & prosecution, Traverse Legal has you covered.  When it comes to client service, there are very few firms that can match our capabilities. Because we are a boutique litigation law firm, we know how to strategically and efficiently accomplish our client's patent and idea protection goals." View Katie's of-counsel profile here.

If you have a patent issue, or wish to register a patent, you may contact one of our patent attorneys for a free evaluation or call 866.936.7447 (International Toll Free).

Michigan to Gain a USPTO Patent Office

The USPTO is planning to open a satellite patent office in Detroit.  The USPTO has had difficulty retaining enough patent examiners in recent years to wade through the increasingly large backlog of patent applications awaiting examination.  One reason for the difficultly in retaining patent talent is the high cost of living in the Alexandria, Virginia area near the USPTO headquarters, as compared to the modest patent examiner salary.  In an effort to retain talent, the USPTO will be opening three new satellite patent offices.  The patent office has already identified Detroit as one location and the other two locations are up in the air.  You can provide input to the PTO as to where the offices should be located.  The deadline for public comment on the future PTO office locations is January 30, 2012.

The USPTO requests comments to be in writing and submitted to satelliteoffices@uspto,gov and to provide information that supports the USPTO's purposes of establishing satellite offices to increase outreach activities to better connect patent filers and innovators with the offices, enhance patent examiner retention and improve recruitment of patent examiners.

PTO Hires New Judges to Tackle Backlog of Appeals

The USPTO Director just announced that the PTO has hired 14 new administrative jurists to the Board of Patent Appeals, in an attempt to wade through the backlog of patent appeals stemming from patent prosecution decisions.  If a patent applicant does not agree with the outcome of prosecution of her patent application, she has some opportunity to appeal the examiner's decision with the Board of Patent Appeals.  Board of Patent Appeals decisions may be appealed to federal court, to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which is the appellate court that handles all patent appeals in the U.S.

Patent Reform Isn't Over

As part of the patent reform act signed into law, Congress tasked with the PTO with making changes, but did not instruct the PTO how to implement changes.  Rather, Congress put ongoing requirements on the USPTO for change, in the form of proposing rules changes to implement the new law, gathering public opinion and comment regarding the proposed changes and devising final rules changes to implement many of the new provisions in the America Invents Act (AIA).  For example, in December, the PTO  published proposed rules for supplemental examination and to revise reexamination fees.  The PTO also announced public hearings and request for comments on genetic diagnostic testing per the AIA.  If you are interested in having your opinion heard by those who will be making the rules for the patent landscape for years to come, you have opportunity to get involved.

How long does it take for the USPTO to look at my patent application?

We've come to expect a 1-2 year time period before the USPTO issues a first office action in response to a newly filed utility patent application.  And that's typically just the beginning of the prosecution back and forth between a patent applicant and the patent examiner in trying to obtain allowance of the patent claims.  Under the America Invents Act (the patent reform legislation), the USPTO Director optimistically reported yesterday that the backlog of patent applications awaiting prosecution is now down to only 660,000.  That still seems like a lot, but he reports that the PTO has just hired a fleet of new examiners to attempt to tackle the backlogged cases. 

There also is an excellerated examination option, which provides for a quick patent examination period (12 months).  This option sets additional requirements upon a patent applicant, including payment of higher fees.  But for time sensitive inventions – where an inventor benefits greatly from having an issued patent now – this option is worth considering. 

International Patent Protection for Small Businesses and Prior User Rights Studies

The Federal Circuit Bar Association:  International Patent Protection for Small Businesses and Prior User Rights Studies

The USPTO is presently working on the International Patent Protection for Small Businesses and Prior User Rights Studies, both of which have reports due to Congress in mid-January. They recently published two Federal Register Notices (available on the PTO website) seeking written comments and/or testimony in a hearing setting from the public. The Notices are also available here:

• International Patent Protection for Small Businesses Study
  

• Prior User Rights Study

The agency would greatly benefit from public input on both studies, either through written comments and/or oral testimony at the hearings they have planned. Here are the logistics for those hearings:

•    International Patent Protection: Thursday, October 27th from 1 to 4 PM at the USPTO and Tuesday, November 1st from 9 AM to noon at USC Law School in Los Angeles
•    Prior User Rights: Tuesday, October 25th from 8:30 to 11:30 AM at the USPTO

Thank you, and we hope you can take advantage of this opportunity to participate in the dialogue about the America Invents Act.

Patent Reform Imminent

U.S. Congress has been discussing patent reform for a number of years now.  Various versions of bills have been tossed around and debated at length, and the patent issues generally have then been put on a shelf, taking back burner to other important issues requiring the attention of Congress.  It really had gotten to the “never cry wolf” stage for if/when anything was to come of the patent reform discussions and patent lawyers had grown weary with breath holding wondering if change was going to take place.  However, this week, both the House and the Senate have passed bills to make the proposed patent reforms into law.  The legislation has landed on President Obama’s desk.  It appears that he will sign the pending bill into law shortly.

Senate Passes Landmark Bill to Overhaul U.S. Patent System

On September 8, 2011, a late congress passed legislation dubbed “The America Invents Act” in an overwhelming 89-9 vote.  President Obama is expected to sign it into law within the next week.  In this CNNMoney report by David Goldman, the bill will mandate three things:

What is inequitable conduct in patent prosecution?

Inequitable conduct, often called “fraud upon the patent office,” generally means that in trying to obtain a patent, the applicant was not honest with the patent office and failed to disclose prior art or other information known by the applicant that was material to the patentability of his/her invention.  Patent prosecution rules include a Duty of Candor, which requires the applicant and his/her representatives to disclose material information to the USPTO during prosecution of the patent application.  Should an applicant withhold material information and thus commit inequitable conduct, the result is that the patent would be deemed unenforceable.  This is an equitable doctrine.  It means that even if the patent is valid, the applicant would be precluded from enforcing it against infringers due to the fraud upon the patent office.  Inequitable conduct is a defense sometimes raised to allegations of infringement.

Patent Validity: U.S. Supreme Court Grants Microsoft's Petition for a Writ of Certiorari

The U.S. Supreme Court has granted Microsoft’s petition for a writ of certiorari seeking review of the stand of proof required to prove a patent invalid.  Under current U.S. law, invalidity of a patent must be proven by “clear and convincing” evidence.  The clear and convincing standard is a higher standard than the most commonly used standard in civil cases: “preponderance of the evidence,” which is often discussed as “more likely than not” or considered to require proof just beyond 50%.  Patent infringement, as opposed to invalidity, is determined by the “preponderance of the evidence” standard.  The “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard, used in criminal cases, is a higher standard than “clear and convincing” evidence, and “clear and convincing” is generally considered to be somewhere between “preponderance of the evidence” and “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Patent Infringement Dispute: Java FX Developer Oracle is Less Than Enthused with Google’s Android Software

Oracle Corporation (Oracle) filed the patent infringement lawsuit against Google in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Oracle’s complaint seeks monetary damages for willful infringement. Along with an injunction to immediately halt Google from building and distributing the Android Smartphone.

Wiki describes Oracle Corporation as a multinational computer technology corporation that specializes in developing and marketing enterprise software products — particularly database management systems.

The Android is Google’s premier Internet and social media Smartphone. Google’s use of open source code, on top of (and based off of) Oracle’s different Java codes, for use in running and writing applications for the Android operating system on its Google Android Smartphone, allegedly infringes on patented Java technologies.

Oracle’s complaint alleges that Google’s use of Java code source and applications opens Google up to liability for partial-infringement of seven different Oracle owned patents.

The complaint also alleges that Google knows, or should have known, of these different infringements because Google hired former Sun Java engineers to work in developing the Android operating system.

If you have a patent issue, or wish to register a patent, you may contact one of our patent attorneys for a free evaluation or call 866.936.7447 (International Toll Free).