Archive for December, 2004
Open the mail box, India
Under a 1999 Amendment to its Patents Act, India is required to open the “mail box” today and refer the patent applications contained within for examination.
The “mail box” was created as a temporary holding cell for patent applications in the fields of pharmaceuticals and agricultural chemicals. Patent protection in these fields has not been [...]
IP sector is best in legal blogs; here’s how to start reading the top IP blogs in less than five minutes
The intellectual property community is blessed to have several high quality blogs to read that are focused on this area of law. Dennis Kennedy recently named the intellectual property blogs, collectively, as the Best Legal Blog Sector in his first, and hopefully annual, Legal Blogging Awards (affectionately nicknamed the “Blawggies” by Dennis).
Interested in reading [...]
Mandatory download for electronic filing now available
As promised, the US Patent and Trademark Office has made the latest version of its EFS software available for download. The new version corrects a problem of the old — it didn’t recognize the new fee structure and only allowed for payment of the old fees on filing.
Because of this fix, the new version [...]
Indian politics to delay TRIPs compliance?
India must amend its patent law to be fully TRIPs compliant by January 1, 2005. Considering India’s prior performance on TRIPs related deadlines (one prior deadline was missed by a mere 4 years), doubt on whether the required changes to the law will be in place by the new year are beginning to mount.
This [...]
EU Fish Ministers to rubber stamp software patents directive?
The legal inquiry of whether software and “computer implemented inventions” should be patentable subject matter is fascinating (at least to me). But, in the continuing saga of software patents in Europe, the patentability question is quickly being eclipsed by the process by which the European Union is considering the measure.
The Agricultural and Fisheries Commission [...]
China High Court continues reform of law on intellectual property crimes
China is in the midst of a complete overhaul of its intellectual property laws. According to this article, many beleive the reforms have little practical effect because the police and courts aren’t prepared to handle, or even identify, violations of intellectual property rights.
But, alas, these areas of the law are being reformed as well. [...]
Gmail invites
A slight diversion from intellectual property law…
I have GMail invites to give away. Five invites. First five readers to e-mail me.
Late term bill proposess several patent law reforms, including post-grant opposition of patent claims
“The bottom line is this: there should be no question that the U.S. patent system produces high quality patents. Since questions have been raised about whether this is the case, the responsibility of Congress is to take a close look at the functioning of the patent system. Patent quality is key to [...]
Patent Office report to Congress on Inter Partes Reexamination suggests changes and highlights need for expanded post grant review system
The United States Patent and Trademark Office is expected to release, later today, its report on the inter partes reexamination procedure created by the American Inventors Protection Act (AIPA). The AIPA requires the Patent Office to report to Congress an evaluation of the inter partes reexamination procedure within 5 years of the enactment of [...]
EFS Software out of sync with new fees; Updated software will be available on December 23, 2004 — installation mandatory for eFilers
Today, while filing a provisional application using the electronic filing system, I discovered that the ePAVE software does not reflect the new fees made effective on December 8, 2004. Not a big deal, since you can (and I did) ‘check the box’ to authorize any additional necessary fees.
The Patent Office has announced that new [...]
