One of the latest news stories to take the internet by storm stemmed from reports that King.com, makers of the wildly popular Candy Crush mobile application (amongst others), has trademarked the word “candy” in the United States.
Read articleAccording to the USPTO statistics of November 2013 there were 590,070 patent applications waiting to get examined in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The expected time from filing of a patent application to the first office action is on average 17.6 months. On average the total time of examination is 37.3 months.
Read articleWith Christmas trees, even a child can tell the difference just by looking. So the real question for trees is not are they fake, but “Which is greener?”
Read articleCrowdfunding refers to people or organizations obtaining funds for their cause by asking a large audience for money, allowing them to bypass the banks and large investors such as venture capitalists.
Read articleHow does the USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) encourage innovation? One way is through resources for inventors. One such resource can be found on the USPTO website, and is called “Inventors Eye Newsletter.”
Read articleYes, it’s that time of year again, already. Time to man up, load the 12 gauge and shoot yourself a turkey.
Read articleThe Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has finalized amendments to the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (HSR Act) clarifying the scope of reportable transactions involving the transfer of rights in a patent in the pharmaceutical (including biologics and medicine manufacturing) industry. The final rule defines and applies the concepts of “all commercially significant rights,” “limited manufacturing rights,” and “co-rights” in determining whether the rights transferred constitute a potentially reportable asset acquisition under the HSR Act.
Read articleust recently, patent reform legislation was introduced to Congress by a bipartisan group led by House Judiciary Committee Chairperson Bob Goodlatte (R-Va). The bill (H.R. 3309) is being tentatively referred to as the “Innovation Act of 2013.” The bill aims to build upon patent reforms introduced in the America Invents Act (AIA) which went into full effect this past March of this year. One of the main points of focus of the bill is on “non-practicing entities” (NPEs), aka “patent assertion entities” (PAEs), aka “patent trolls.” Contrary to the name, these are not creatures dwelling under a bridge looking for a hand out…well…errrm…
Read articleIn 1949, two innovators faced a problem familiar to most inventors and entrepreneurs – how to construct a prototype of an idea without spending much money.
Read articleWe all want more transparency from our government, don’t we? Well, the USPTO heard our pleas, and they’ve launched a ‘Patents Dashboard’. It shows a variety of stats for recent months, and some for previous years too. You can see how long it takes for each step of the patent process, and what the backlog in applications is, along with other types of data.
Read articleThe European Patent system has been complicated and expensive: once a European patent is allowed by the European Patent Office (EPO), it needs to be ratified in each individual country. The ratification process includes national fees and in many cases it still requires translation of the claims or the full patent into a number of different languages.
Read articleSince 2010, when the discoverers of graphene were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics, this latest miracle material has had Angel Investors leaping tall buildings – and the Patent Office working overtime.
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