Illuminating the path in intellectual property law.
In a Federal Register Notice published October 27, 2025 (“Notice”), the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced a new pilot program called the “Streamlined Claim Set Pilot Program” (hereinafter “Pilot Program”). This article considers (1) requirements to participate in the Pilot Program, (2) effects on applications that are accepted to the Pilot Program, (3) …
Continue reading “Fewer Claims in the Fast Lane: USPTO’s Streamlined Claim Set Pilot Program”
As of October 2025, United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director John A. Squires has reclaimed authority to decide all patent review institution proceedings. This responsibility was previously delegated to judges at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). The USPTO also recently issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that could significantly reshape how …
Part 3 This is the third post in a 3-part series. Below, we describe Example 49 which focuses on using AI to assist with a medical treatment. Example 49. Fibrosis Treatment Key Takeaway for Claim 1: Example 49, Claim 1 includes a likely split-actor issue, because the entities collecting the sample, identifying the high risk/weighted …
Effective January 18, 2025, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) will update some of its trademark proceedings and fees. The changes aim to provide the USPTO with the additional funding needed to continue to improve its operations and streamline its services, including reducing processing delays, improving examination, enhancing IT systems, and addressing the …
Continue reading “Get Ready for Changes to USPTO Trademark Proceedings and Fees in January 2025”
This is the second post in a 3-part series. Example 48 is described below, which is directed to analyzing speech signals and separating desired speech from extraneous or background speech using AI. Example 48. Speech Separation Key Takeaway for Claim 1: Example 48, Claim 1 could be interpreted as receiving spoken audio, and deriving/calculating data …
Part 1 On July 17, 2024, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (the Office) released new guidance on subject matter eligibility, entitled “The 2024 Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance Update Including on Artificial Intelligence” (2024 AI SME Update). The 2024 AI SME Update is a lifeline for patent prosecutors prosecuting AI patent applications because it …
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) periodically evaluates the delicate balance of the U.S. patent system to protect innovation without excessively stifling competition. U.S. patents give patent owners the exclusive right to exclude others from making, using, selling, or importing the claimed invention typically for 20 years; however, the risk of patent infringement …
Continue reading “Terminal Disclaimer Rule Proposed to Balance Innovation and Competition”
Guidance on using AI to Invent Due to the quick rise of artificial intelligence (AI), most (if not all) of the laws relating to the US patent system were not written with AI in mind. Court precedent and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) guidelines have taken the place of written law to …
Over a decade has passed since recreational cannabis began to see legalization at the state level. Yet cannabis businesses continue to grapple with protecting their brands, as trademark protection at the federal level remains unavailable. The current hodgepodge of state trademark regimes will undoubtedly result in litigation and a race to register federal marks once …