Get Ready for Changes to USPTO Trademark Proceedings and Fees in January 2025

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 …

Part 2: Key Takeaways from Claim Examples in the 2024 AI Patent Eligibility Guidance

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 …

Key Takeaways from Claim Examples in the 2024 AI Patent Eligibility Guidance: A 3-Part Series

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 …

Terminal Disclaimer Rule Proposed to Balance Innovation and Competition

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 …

Avoiding a Bad Trip: How Cannabis Companies Can Mitigate the Risk of an Infringement Lawsuit

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 …