Inevitable Disclosures

Thank you to all who participated in the 2022 IP Institute for making it a huge success. Enjoy these snapshots! Read more

On September 22, 2022, I became the Immediate Past Chair of the Intellectual Property Law Section. It was an honor and challenge to serve as the Chair this past year. Read more

On July 7, 2022, Kathi Vidal, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO, issued orders setting the schedule for Director review of the PTAB decisions in OpenSky Industries, LLC v. VLSI Technology LLC, IPR2021-01064, Paper 47 (PTAB July 7, 2022) and Patent Quality Assurance, LLC v. VLSI Technology LLC, IPR2021-01229, Paper 35 (PTAB July 7, 2022). Read more

The USPTO fee schedule was updated, effective July 1. Read more

To accelerate innovation in the health and medical fields, the USPTO published a Federal Register Notice announcing a further extension of its Cancer Immunotherapy Pilot Program. Read more

To further support the acceleration of innovations in the fight against COVID-19, the USPTO has published a Federal Register Notice announcing a fourth extension of its COVID-19 Prioritized Examination Pilot Program. Read more

Beginning August 1, 2022, the USPTO's Patent Center system—available to the public since 2017—will fully replace the legacy Public Patent Application Information Retrieval (Public PAIR) tool for the electronic filing and management of patent applications. Read more

On August 6, 2022, the USPTO will begin requiring all USPTO.gov account holders to verify their identities as a condition for filing electronic trademark forms. Read more

To preserve stakeholders’ intellectual property rights, the USPTO has provided various forms of relief to patent and trademark applicants and other affected stakeholders who are unable to meet certain filing deadlines due to the effects of “extraordinary situations” as designated by the USPTO (within the meaning of 37 CFR 1.183, 2.146(a)(5), and 2.148). Read more

The USPTO unveiled a new patent quality metrics webpage which shares the metrics the USPTO uses to gauge patent examination quality with the public. Read more