Intellectual Property

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) released the web-based Patent Public Search tool ("PPS") in late 2021. This useful tool is comparable to the search tool that the PTO’s own examiner’s use to find prior art. That said, PPS has a real learning curve in developing effective search queries. In this article we offer a starting point in developing search queries that will return relevant results.

Understanding the implications of venture capital funding on a company’s size classification is crucial, especially when it jeopardizes its “small entity” status and raises concerns with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Member Michael D. Van Loy, PhD and Associates Jessica Zhang and Qi Zhang break down these complexities, underscoring the importance of accurately determining entity status to avoid pitfalls such as patent invalidation.

Clinical trial related patent applications are often filed prior to the start of the Phase I clinical trial to minimize the risk of invalidation of the resulting patent for public use (35 U.S.C. § 102(a)) based on the clinical trial itself.  This conservative filing strategy is unnecessary for the majority of clinical trial-related inventions, and reduces the value of the patent by prematurely starting the patent term clock.