Intellectual Property Law

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to revise the rules of practice to issue patents electronically through its patent document viewing systems (i.e., Patent Center and Patent Application Image Retrieval (PAIR)). Read more

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) plans to start issuing electronic trademark registration certificates in spring 2022. Read more

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is indefinitely delaying implementation of the voluntary continuing legal education (CLE) certification for registered patent practitioners and individuals granted limited recognition to practice before the USPTO in patent matters. Read more

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued a new examination guide titled “Expungement and Reexamination Proceedings Under the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020.” Read more

On December 18, 2021, the United States Patent and Trademark Office updated the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) and other IT systems to implement the provisions of the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 (TMA) that went into effect on that date. Read more

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is in the process of developing artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to add to the tool that patent examiners use for conducting prior art searches. Read more

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published a notice in the Federal Register announcing an extension of its COVID-19 Prioritized Examination Pilot Program. Read more

As part of the USPTO's continuing efforts to protect the integrity of the U.S. trademark register, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has established an administrative process to investigate improper trademark-related submissions. Read more

The USPTO posted a notice announcing the establishment of an email address (PCTHelp@uspto.gov) for submitting inquiries regarding the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and the procedures applicable to international applications filed under the PCT and U.S. national stage applications submitted under 35 U.S.C. § 371 Read more

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a final rule that delays until January 1, 2023, the effective date of the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.16(u) for any nonprovisional utility patent application filed under 35 U.S.C. 111, including any continuing application, that is not filed in DOCX format. Read more