By: Dan Pierron Congratulations! Your claims have been allowed, you’ve paid your issue fee, and you’ve received the seal and red ribbon! It’s been years in coming, and now you can kick back and relax, both your mind and your legal budget. Right? Maybe not. Deciding how to utilize a single patent or an entire portfolio […]
Widerman Malek Law Blog
First-to-File and Continuation Applications
By: Dan Pierron As has been well publicized, starting March 16, the U.S. patent system will join the rest of the world by transitioning from a First-to-Invent system to a First-to-File system, where regardless of when they invented it, the first applicant to file an application with the USPTO has priority. Many are predicting a torrent of […]
3D Printers and Patent Infringement
By: Dan Pierron As a follower of several tech websites, it’s my general impression that the cost of 3D printers and their associated printing media are quickly dropping in price, to the point that it is within the budget of some hobbyists and semi-professional hardware manufacturers to purchase and operate the machines. While this is certainly […]
Patents and Misleading News Articles
By: Dan Pierron It seems there is a growing trend in the reporting of patent litigation and the prosecution of patents by high-profile applicants (the likes of Google, Apple, Microsoft, etc.) where the basic gist of the invention is described in the article in very broad terms, but there is little or no reference to the […]
March of Dimes Signature Chefs Auction
By: Dan Pierron To all those in the Space Coast area, I would like to take some time to plug an event occurring this Wednesday: the March of Dimes Signature Chefs Auction. This is an annual premiere event, featuring many local chefs dishing up their finest wares for attendees to sample. Restaurants that are participating this […]
Claim Drafting – Go Narrow or Broad?
By: Dan Pierron Claim drafting ain’t easy. On top of having to concisely describe a quite-often complicated invention, there are all the strategic implications on word choice, independent-dependent relationships, and too many others to recite here. However, one overarching strategic decision to be made when drafting claims prior to filing an application is this; should one […]
Third Party Submissions
By: Dan Pierron Yet another part of the America Invents Act are Third Party Submission of Prior Art. This presents the opportunity for ex parte participation in the form of introducing prior art to be considered by the examiner in a pending application. This adds another tool in the arsenal of options for a party considering an […]
Life After Allowance – What’s a Patentee to Do?
By: Dan Pierron Receiving a notice of allowance is the patent equivalence of reaching the promised land. After years of effort and expense, the Patent Office has deemed your application worthy of becoming a patent, and issued a Notice of Allowance accordingly. However, this does not necessarily mean the end of the road as far as […]
