A Board Certified Patent Attorney

Archive for the ‘Patent Language Critical’ Category

Patent Attorneys Know Every Letter of the Alphabet in the Issued Patent Counts!

Can getting a single letter of the alphabet wrong in an issued patent spell disaster when it comes to litigating against infringers?  Unless the mistake is seen as being a minor typographical error that can be corrected by filing a certificate of correction, the answer is a resounding yes. Hats off to Peter Zura of The 271 Patent Blog for his post on Central Admixure Pharmacy Services v. Advanced Cardiac Solutions (06-13-07).  In this case, Central Admixture Pharmacy Services sued Advanced Cardiac Solutions for patent infringment relating to a chemical solution used duriing heart surgery.  A certificate of correction was sought on the patent and was issued by the patent office to replace all instances of the word "osmolarity" with the word "osmolality". You mi

Patent Application Quantity Not an Accurate Indication of Patent Quality

Hats off to Mark Reichel of The Daily Dose of IP Blog for his post regarding the U.S. Patent Office discontinuing its annual top ten patent holder list. In the Patent Office press release, the PTO announced that it will no longer be publishing its annual ranking of the top 10 organizations obtaining the most U.S. patents in the preceeding year.According to the press release, it is abandoning the list of top ten patent holders and "emphasizing quality over qualtity by discouraging any perception that we believe more is better." About time. I always wondered why the patent office focused so much attention on their "top ten list" as all it really did was provide those few "repeat customers" lucky enough to be in the "top ten" with bragging rights on thei

USPTO Requesting More Timely and Useful Information From Patent Applicants

The United States Patent & Trademark Office posted the following article on their website which may be of interested to those seeking patent protection:   As part of its ongoing efforts to promote investment in innovation and spur economic growth, the Department of Commerce’s U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) today announced a new proposal that would streamline and improve the patent application review process. The new proposal would encourage patent applicants to provide the USPTO the most relevant information related to their inventions in the early stages of the review process.   “Clear disclosure upfront by applicants helps examiners more quickly make the correct decision about whether a claimed invention deserves a patent,” noted Jon Dudas, under secretary of comm

Adequately Disclosing Your Invention in the Patent Application

A patent holder’s rights of preventing others from making, using, and selling an invention is contingent upon the invention being adequately disclosed to the public in the patent application. Adequate disclosure is the ticket price you pay for patent protection. No ticket-no ride. An invention that is not adequately disclosed is not entitled to patent protection. What is adequate disclosure? As set forth in 35 U.S.C. Section 112, the specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his in