Monthly Archives: July 2013

USPTO Seeks Feedback to Improve Patent Quality.

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Patent quality is a hot topic for 2013.  The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently announced a series of roundtable discussions intended to foster a partnership with the software community to enhance the quality of software-related patents.

More recently, the USPTO put out the call for feedback on how to improve overall patent quality.

As detailed in this Federal Notice, the USPTO is specifically interested in potential practices that applicants can employ at the drafting stage of a patent application in order to facilitate examination and bring more certainty to the scope of issued patents. The issues for comment are broken down into two distinct areas—clarifying the scope of the claims and clarifying the meaning of a claim term in the specification.

The USPTO is seeking public comment on advantages and disadvantages of applicants employing the following practices when preparing their patent applications:

  • Presenting claims in a multi-part format by way of a standardized template that places each claim component in separate, clearly marked, and designated fields. For instance, a template may facilitate drafting and review of claims by separately delineating each claim component into separate fields for the preamble, transitional phrase, and each particular claim limitation.
  • Identifying corresponding support in the specification for each of the claim limitations utilizing, for example, a claim chart or the standardized template described above. This practice could be particularly beneficial where claims are amended or where a continuing application (continuation, divisional, continuation-in-part) is filed.
  • Indicating whether examples in the specification are intended to be limiting or merely illustrative.
  • Identifying whether the claim preamble is intended to be a limitation on claim scope.
  • Expressly identifying clauses within particular claim limitations for which the inventor intends to invoke 35 U.S.C. 112(f) and pointing out where in the specification corresponding structures, materials, or acts are disclosed that are linked to the identified 35 U.S.C. 112(f) claim limitations
  • Indicating whether terms of degree–such as substantially, approximately, about, essentially–have a lay or technical meaning and explaining the scope of such terms.
  • Including in the specification a glossary of potentially ambiguous, distinctive, and specialized terms used in the specification and/or claims, particularly for inventions related to certain technologies, such as software.
  • Designating, at the time of filing the application, a default dictionary or dictionaries (e.g., a technical dictionary and a non-technical dictionary) to be used in ascertaining the meaning of the claim terms.

Finally, the USPTO also plans to issue a separate notice directed towards identifying potential practices that it can employ to achieve the same goals.

I will be sure to post an update when the notice is published.

How Can I Help?

If you, or someone you know, need help with any Intellectual Property issue, from filing a patent, trademark or copyright, or just advice regarding how best to protect your ideas and your brand, contact me for a free 30 minute consultation at nvantreeck@usip.com or call TOLL FREE at 1-855-UR IDEAS (1-855-874-3327) and ask for Norman.

– Ex astris, scientia –

I am and avid amateur astronomer and intellectual property attorney in Pasadena, California and I am a Rising Star as rated by Super Lawyers Magazine.  As a former Chief Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy, I am a proud member of the Armed Service Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association working to aid all active duty and veterans in our communities. Connect with me on Google +

Norman

Can You See Yourself Waving?

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This past Friday, the Cassini spacecraft captured a picture of Earth through Saturn’s rings.

https://www.dailygalaxy.com/.a/6a00d8341bf7f753ef0192ac23f9c6970d-pi

The image is only the third ever taken of Earth from the outer solar system (home to the gas giants and their moons).

It is also the first time that everyone knew the picture was going to be taken in advance.  As I reported earlier, that knowledge prompted a lot of interesting events to celebrate the occasion.

From 898 million miles (1.44 billion kilometers) away, the Earth is a small blue dot.  If you look closely, you can see the moon next to the Earth (naturally).

So did you see me waving?  Leave me a message and let me know how you celebrated this historic first.

– Ex astris, scientia –

I am and avid amateur astronomer and intellectual property attorney in Pasadena, California and I am a Rising Star as rated by Super Lawyers Magazine.  As a former Chief Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy, I am a proud member of the Armed Service Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association working to aid all active duty and veterans in our communities. Connect with me on Google +

Norman

USPTO Extends Missing Parts Pilot Program Again.

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The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will further extend its Extended Missing Parts Pilot Program for another 12 months. The program is beneficial for inventors because it allows patent applicants to request a twelve-month time period to pay the search fee, the examination fee, any excess claim fees, and the surcharge (for the late submission of the search fee and the examination fee) in a nonprovisional application.

According to the USPTO: “This would serve as a vehicle for inventors–at their option–to effectively have up to 24 months to make decisions regarding the significant investment of time and money required to take a non-provisional patent application forward.”

The USPTO first launched the pilot in 2010 and has previously extended it. As highlighted by the USPTO, it benefits both the agency and inventors “by permitting additional time to determine if patent protection should be sought–at a relatively low cost–and by permitting applicants to focus efforts on commercialization during this period.”

In order to take advantage of the Extended Missing parts Pilot Program, the applicant must satisfy the following conditions:

  • The applicant must submit a certification and request to participate in the Extended Missing Parts Pilot Program with the nonprovisional application on filing, preferably by using Form PTO/AIA/421 titled “Certification and Request for Extended Missing Parts Pilot Program;”
  • The application must be an original (i.e. not a Reissue) nonprovisional utility or plant application filed under 35 U.S.C. 111(a) within the duration of the pilot program;
  • The nonprovisional application must directly claim the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) and 37 CFR 1.78 of a prior provisional application filed within the previous twelve months; and
  • The applicant must not have filed a nonpublication request.

The program will now will run through December 31, 2013.

How Can I Help?

For more information about how you or your company may benefit from this pilot program or one of the many others offered by the USPTO, contact me for a free 30 minute consultation at nvantreeck@usip.com or call TOLL FREE at 1-855-UR IDEAS (1-855-874-3327) and ask for Norman.

– Ex astris, scientia –

I am and avid amateur astronomer and intellectual property attorney in Pasadena, California and I am a Rising Star as rated by Super Lawyers Magazine.  As a former Chief Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy, I am a proud member of the Armed Service Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association working to aid all active duty and veterans in our communities. Connect with me on Google +

Norman

Watch Out for that Galaxy!

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Alas, unlike NASCAR, there is not likely to be any spectacular stellar collisions.  In the early part of galactic formation, particles and larger bodies where crashing into each other all the time.  But now, as the universe has matured slightly, the prospects of these types of collisions is rare.  This is bad news for scientists.  Stars, many times larger than the Sun, usually end their lives in one of  two ways:

1)     their material can is blown into space; or

2)    they can collapse under their own gravity into a black hole.

Scientists were hoping to observe gravitational waves from two super massive stars orbiting each other.  The theory was that objects orbiting in tight binary systems where one or both stars are either a neutron star or a black hole would lose their energy over time.  This energy loss would lead to the orbits of the objects decaying  and finally a collision.

It was at this point that there may be an observable gamma-ray burst, and the explosion should also be accompanied by the emission of gravitational waves. However, up to now we have failed to observe these waves. Current detectors can only “see” the collision of typical black holes in the local Universe. The collision of black holes produced by super massive stars would produce gravitational waves strong enough to be detected.

Sadly, the orbits of super massive objects are so far apart that it would be at least ten billion years, and most likely longer, for the objects to collide.  So scientists would have to wait around about the same amount of time as the universe has been in existence to observe gravitational waves from this source.

File:LISA-waves.jpg

Scientists will have to hope that the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), a proposed space mission concept designed to detect and accurately measure gravitational waves from astronomical sources, gets enough funding to help them out.

– Ex astris, scientia –

I am and avid amateur astronomer and intellectual property attorney in Pasadena, California and I am a Rising Star as rated by Super Lawyers Magazine.  As a former Chief Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy, I am a proud member of the Armed Service Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association working to aid all active duty and veterans in our communities. Connect with me on Google +

Norman

Tougher Trade Secret Penalties.

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While trade secret theft is generally addressed through civil suits, criminal punishment is increasingly being used as a deterrent by the federal government.

The Economic Espionage Act of 1996 criminalizes trade secret theft committed for personal benefit within the country or for the benefit of a foreign government. Two recent amendments to the law will broaden the government’s ability to prosecute these cases and impose tougher penalties.

The Theft of Trade Secrets Clarification Act of 2012 clarifies the scope of the Economic Espionage Act of 1996 in light of U.S. v. Aleynikov, 676 F.3d 71 (2d Cir. 2012). In that case, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the criminal conviction of a programmer who stole the source code of his employer to establish a competing firm. The court held that the computer code failed to satisfy the statute’s requirement that the “product” was “produced for” or “placed in” interstate or foreign commerce. Under the amendment, which was signed into law by President Obama in December, the prohibition against the theft of trade secrets will now apply to a trade secret that is related to a product or service used in or intended for use in interstate or foreign commerce.

The Foreign and Economic Espionage Penalty Enhancement Act of 2012 will enhance the penalties for misappropriating trade secrets to benefit a foreign government. For individual offenders, the monetary limit for financial penalties would increase from $500,000 to $5,000,000. For corporations, it would increase from $10,000,000 to the greater of $10,000,000 or 3 times the value of the stolen trade secret to the organization, including expenses for research and design and other costs of reproducing the trade secret that the organization has thereby avoided. The legislation was passed by Congress and is now awaiting the President’s signature.

we encourage you to contact one of our experienced intellectual property attorneys for a free 30-minute consultation.

How Can I Help?

As these new laws highlight, it is imperative for businesses to carefully guard all proprietary information and make sure that all employees understand what constitutes a protected trade secret. For more information about how to best protect your trade secrets, contact me for a free 30 minute consultation at nvantreeck@usip.com or call TOLL FREE at 1-855-UR IDEAS (1-855-874-3327) and ask for Norman.

– Ex astris, scientia –

I am and avid amateur astronomer and intellectual property attorney in Pasadena, California and I am a Rising Star as rated by Super Lawyers Magazine.  As a former Chief Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy, I am a proud member of the Armed Service Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association working to aid all active duty and veterans in our communities. Connect with me on Google +

Norman

Saturday Night with the RAS.

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At this Saturday’s general meeting of the Riverside Astronomical Society (RAS) that are always open to the public (see our website ww.rivastro.org), Associate Professor Kevork N. Abazajian who gave a talk entitled: “Cosmological Large Scale Structure Surveys.”  Professor Abazajian teaches for the Department of Physics & Astronomy at the University of California Irivine.  You can read more about Kevork and his research interests by clicking here.

Dr. Abazajian’s talk encompassed the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and how it was the largest optical survey of galaxies in our universe and it found 3-dimensional positions of approximately one million galaxies to a distance of 1.9 Gly (1.9 billion light years).  He described the exciting results of this survey, its implications for cosmology, and the prospects for an even larger and deeper survey currently being designed for the future Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST).

He talked about how the survey done by Herschel in 1785 showed our first understanding of the Universe.  Which at that time was just our galaxy.

In 1921, our understanding deepened a little with the Shapley model of the Universe.

Then, after Hubble discovered that our galaxy was just one of billions, the next survey in 1985 started honing our knowledge of the universe.

Then, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey really started to allow scientists to verify many of the cosmological models that had been proposed.

Currently the SDSS bills itself as the largest color image of the sky ever made.

However, the WMAP spacecraft in 2003 pushed the boundaries of the universe to about 13.7 Billion years.  This is currently the farthest that we can see because of the plasma left over from the big bang is blocking our view beyond that time.  Dr. Abazajian said that it was like trying to look through an inverted sun.  The photons from the plasma are coming toward us from the edge instead of at us from a point.

The ESA’s Plank satellite has provided even more detailed structure of the universe.

New equipment is being built right now to make all the other surveys pale in comparison.  The large synoptic survey telescope (LSST) will be able to survey the entire sky in just 3 nights!  It has a 3200 Megapixel digital camera, and a 3 degree field of view.

Not surprisingly, one of our members asked: “So what are you going to do with it after those three days?”  Not to worry, the LSST will then be tasked with trying to locate and catalog all the  Kuiper Belt objects.

If you  want to see the universe in a few minutes, the SDSS have made a movie using the data collected from the survery.  You can find it here.  I highly recommend it.  A word of warning, your mind will have trouble grasping the scale of the universe after a while, at least mine did.

Another impressive movie was made by the American museum of natural history: The Known Universe, is also highly recommended.

Check our website for the next Star Party and meetings.  Everyone is welcome, you don’t need to bring anything but your wonder, we’ll handle the amazing.

– Ex astris, scientia –

I am and avid amateur astronomer and intellectual property attorney in Pasadena, California and I am a Rising Star as rated by Super Lawyers Magazine.  As a former Chief Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy, I am a proud member of the Armed Service Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association working to aid all active duty and veterans in our communities. Connect with me on Google +

Norman

Louboutin Trademark Fight Continues

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Last fall, Christian Louboutin made legal headlines when the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that its distinctive red soles of shoes are entitled to trademark protection.

The lawsuit was filed to prevent rival French designer Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) from selling shoes that featured a monochrome red shoe with a red sole. While the court  agreed that the red soles were a distinctive symbol that identifies the Louboutin brand, it instructed the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to limit the trademark to uses in which the red outsole contrasts with the color of the rest of the shoe. Accordingly, it found that the YSL shoes did not infringe.

So while the luxury company was not victorious in its dispute with YSL, its battle with the USPTO over amending the registration appears to just be getting started.  The USPTO proposed the following description in accordance with the ruling from the Second Circuit (the underlined text indicates the changes): The color(s) red is/are claimed as a feature of the mark.  The mark consists of a lacquered red outsole on footwear that contrasts with the color of the adjoining remaining portion of the shoe (known as the “upper.”)  The dotted lines are not part of the mark but are intended only to show the placement of the mark.

Louboutin disagreed with the restrictiveness of the definition and proposed its own: The color(s) red is/are claimed as a feature of the mark.  The mark consists of a lacquered red outsole on footwear that contrasts with the color of any visible portions of the shoe.  The dotted lines are not part of the mark but are intended only to show the placement of the mark.

After the USPTO concluded that the definition failed to comply with the court’s mandate, Louboutin sought clarification from the Second Circuit. So,  it appears that the court may again get the final word on the red soled shoes.

How Can I Help?

If you, or someone you know, need help with any Intellectual Property issue, from filing a patent, trademark or copyright, or just advice regarding how best to protect your ideas and your brand, please contact me for a free 30 minute consultation at nvantreeck@usip.com or call TOLL FREE at 1-855-UR IDEAS (1-855-874-3327) and ask for Norman.

– Ex astris, scientia –

I am and avid amateur astronomer and intellectual property attorney in Pasadena, California and I am a Rising Star as rated by Super Lawyers Magazine.  As a former Chief Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy, I am a proud member of the Armed Service Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association working to aid all active duty and veterans in our communities. Connect with me on Google +

Norman

Big Blue.

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Once again, Hubble has expanded the Universe of our knowledge.

This time, Astronomers found the actual color of a planet orbiting another star 63 light-years away.  The planet, HD 189733b, isn’t just blue, its big, at least the size of Jupiter.  The cobalt blue color doesn’t come from water reflection, like Earth, but most likely from the blow-torched atmosphere.  There is even speculation that there is solid silica rain (glass rain).

However fun a glass rain storm would be probably pales in comparison to the 2,000 degree Fahrenheit  (1093 Celsius) temperature and 4,500/mph (7242/ kph) wind.  Shards of glass flying at you very fast, what’s not to love about a planet like that?

Using Hubble’s Imaging Spectrograph, Astronomers measured changes in the color of light from planet HD 189733b during its transit behind the star it orbits.  Fortuitously, the planet’s orbit is tilted edge-on with respect to the Earth so the planet routinely passes in front and behind its star.

Hubble’s instruments measured about 1/10,000 of the light you would normally see.  “We saw the light becoming less bright in the blue, but not in the green or the red. This means that the object that disappeared is blue because light was missing in the blue, but not in the red when it was hidden.”

– Ex astris, scientia –

I am and avid amateur astronomer and intellectual property attorney in Pasadena, California and I am a Rising Star as rated by Super Lawyers Magazine.  As a former Chief Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy, I am a proud member of the Armed Service Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association working to aid all active duty and veterans in our communities. Connect with me on Google +

Norman

Can an Interview Improve Patent Quality?

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During patent prosecution, a patent applicant can request an interview with the examiner to discuss the pending application.

The USPTO has always believed that well-documented interviews can help foster high quality patents by enhancing understanding and issue-resolution between the inventor and the Examiner. Now it has the data to support these claims.

The USPTO recently analyzed data on patent quality in applications where interviews were held as well as where interviews were not held. The study included data from over 22,000 applications from the past five years.

The findings revealed that interviews conducted prior to final disposition (allowance or final rejection) of the application increase the probability that the subsequent action will be in full compliance with all applicable quality standards. In addition, the data showed that interviews help decrease both improper allowances and improper rejections by approximately 40 percent compared to applications without interviews prior to the final disposition.

Based on the findings, the USPTO now more than ever encourages both examiners and applicants to consider using  interviews.

How Can I Help?

For more information about how to use this process to your advantage, please contact me for a free 30 minute consultation at nvantreeck@usip.com or call TOLL FREE at 1-855-UR IDEAS (1-855-874-3327) and ask for Norman.

– Ex astris, scientia –

I am and avid amateur astronomer and intellectual property attorney in Pasadena, California and I am a Rising Star as rated by Super Lawyers Magazine.  As a former Chief Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy, I am a proud member of the Armed Service Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association working to aid all active duty and veterans in our communities. Connect with me on Google +

Norman

EPO Patent Filings Reach New High

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The European Patent Office (EPO) recently announced that it received 258,000 patent applications in 2012, which represents a 5.7 percent increase over 2011 and set a new record. The EPO also saw a 5.8 percent increase in the number of patents published.

“This new peak in European patent filings for the third year in a row shows that companies from Europe and around the world are continuing to seek protection for their inventions, and that Europe remains an attractive market for new technologies,” said EPO President Benoît Battistelli. “This growth is part of a consistent, long-term trend, and is clear evidence of the confidence of industry in the value of European patents.”

Below are several trends noted in the EPO’s press statement:

  • With 63% of the filings, a clear majority came from non-European countries (2011: 62%), while the share from the 38 EPO member states was 37% (2011: 38%).
  • The top five positions in 2012 are once again held by the US (24.7%), Japan (19.9%), Germany (13.4%), China (7.3%) and Korea (5.5%).
  • Globally, Asian firms continued to fuel the growth in filings: more than half of the increase comes from Japan, China and Korea combined.
  • US companies reached a new record with 63, 777 filings, reinforcing their number one position.
  • For Europe, following Germany as number three in the top five, the ranking is stable, with France in sixth place (4.6%), ahead of Switzerland (seventh: 3.2%), the UK (eighth: 2.6%) and the Netherlands (ninth: 2.5%). In absolute numbers, all of these EPO countries saw an increase in filings.

How Can I Help?

U.S. companies are increasingly seeking to protect their patent rights overseas. If you, or someone you know, need help with filing a patent, trademark or copyright overseas in Europe, China or any other country, or just advice regarding how best to protect your ideas, please contact me for a free 30 minute consultation at nvantreeck@usip.com or call TOLL FREE at 1-855-UR IDEAS (1-855-874-3327) and ask for Norman.

– Ex astris, scientia –

I am and avid amateur astronomer and intellectual property attorney in Pasadena, California and I am a Rising Star as rated by Super Lawyers Magazine.  As a former Chief Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy, I am a proud member of the Armed Service Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association working to aid all active duty and veterans in our communities. Connect with me on Google +

Norman