Category: Industrial Designs

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A little-known USPTO initiative to reduce the backlog

As we all know, USPTO has set up many initiatives in recent years to try to reduce the qdppbacklog of unexamined patent applications.  Many practitioners are familiar with most of these initiatives.  It seems, however, that very few patent practitioners are aware of an initiative announced recently by the USPTO.  The initiative, called QDPP or “Quick Disposal Pilot Program”, will essentially instantly eliminate approximately two percent of the backlog, and should lead to some applications being allowed very quickly.

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USPTO relaxes rules for CPAs in design patent applications

The AIA rules published August 14, 2012 gave a patent applicant a free pass on handing in the signed inventor declaration late, indeed extremely late.  The 2012 rules permitted the applicant to postpone handing in the declaration until as late as the time of allowance.

But not for CPAs (continued prosecution applications) from design patent applications.  Due to an oversight in the 2012 AIA rulemaking, this free pass was not extended to CPAs in that rulemaking.  On March 5, 2014 the USPTO published a rule change correcting the oversight and extending the free pass to CPAs.

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Important upcoming industrial design events

A number of recent developments have forced practitioners, even those who never thought that design patents were important, to pay attention to design patents.  The Apple v. Samsung litigation, in which a jury verdict of nearly a billion dollars was awarded to Apple, largely on its design patents.  The imminent accession of the US to the Hague Agreement, which will permit US filers to use the Hague process as a one-stop-shopping way to file for design protection in many countries at once.

Here are some important upcoming events in this area:

Those practitioners who wish to join in discussions with other practitioners about developments in industrial design protection may wish to subscribe to the Industrial Designs listserv.