Patent Law

Here Boy

By Gary Odom and Jordan Kuhn

USPTO statistics show reexamination to be an effective tool for bringing questionable patent claims to dock: 64% of claims are amended, 10% cancelled; 26% emerge unscathed. S. 1145 eliminates inter partes reexamination (Sec. 5), substituting a terminal one-year open season. Patents are often not enforced in their first year; prior art may take years to surface; the rules of validity change through time (e.g. Obzilla). The post-grant opposition section is exemplary of how ill-considered the 2007 Patent Act is; how little understanding by sponsor Sen. Leahy in drafting the legislation, who appears to be acting as a lapdog for certain special interests in trying to foul one of the primary parts of this country's economic engine.

Full post as published by The Patent Prospector on March 17, 2008 (boomark / email).