Events

On Thursday, May 21, 2015, from 2:00 p.m. -3:00 p.m. EST, Orange County Partner Brent Babcock will participate in the Intellectual Property Owners Association's (IPO) weekly one-hour webinar series. This week's webinar is entitled, "USPTO and Plain Meaning of Terms, and will explore the implications of the change for patent prosecution and litigation.

At its two-day Patent Quality Summit at the end of March, the USPTO asked for public comment on a detailed set of proposals on how the agency could improve the quality of issued patents. That comment period was extended recently to May 20. IPO commented on May 6.

Practitioners may not be aware that the USPTO has already taken steps, through new examiner training guidelines, to make the record clearer during prosecution by explaining claim interpretation as necessary. Through the new clarifications, the guidelines explain, “the PTAB and courts will be informed as to what the examiner and the applicant understood the claims to mean”. Examiners received training on the new guidance this spring. The goal of the new initiative, according to the USPTO, is to provide “a clear file history [to] prevent or reduce unnecessary litigation, interferences, reissues, ex parte reexaminations, inter partes reviews, supplemental examinations, and post-grant proceedings.”

To register for this webinar, please visit the IPO website.