News

The USPTO Strikes Back: Proposed Fundamental Changes To The U.S. Patent System

Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice
May 2007

Related Professionals: Diner, Bryan C., Tridico Ph.D., Anthony C., Chan, Christopher Y.

Media Mention

Finnegan lawyers Bryan Diner and Anthony Tridico co-author this article, which highlights the issues facing the U.S. patent system as it struggles to process an ever increasing volume of increasingly complex patent applications.  One of the components of the proposed solution is the USPTO’s adoption of a new set of rules that will streamline the procedures for examining continuation and divisional applications.  The article points out that the problem is not simply an internal issue involving office management, since patents once granted are then subject to rules of claim interpretation formulated by Federal Circuit decisions.  On the adoption of the proposals patent applicants and their legal advisers will therefore need to adopt an appropriate strategy.