Portfolio Development
Are the PreAppeal Conference and P3 Program Hopelessly Rigged? Practice Tips for the Savvy Practitioner.
The USPTO announced their new Post-Prosecution Pilot Program, or P3 program for after-final review of a patent application. The P3 program is billed as being similar to the PreAppeal Conference but it adds an oral argument to the mix and – the Office promises – a meaningful explanation of the decision. There is a twist,…
Read MoreYour View May Not Be Your Competitor’s
“When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”
Inventors are often forced to innovate based on artificial constraints. The inventor may be forced to live with the constraints, but their competitors have not.
This is especially true when a product has constraints that are unique to their company. For example, backwards compatibility to a previous version of the company’s product is an artificial constraint that will not exist for competitors, nor will it exist ten years from now when a patent is just beginning its enforcement period.
A good patent covers the concepts of a product being shipped, but is also relevant 5, 10, and 15 years down the road. The patent’s relevance is based on who may benefit from using it. When a product is successful in the marketplace, competitors will start to copy and improve on the product.
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