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To prepare, file, and prosecute a patent application to get a patent granted costs money.  The costs fall into a few categories: cost for preparing the application (see my post on application [...]

Software can be protected with patents.  The source code of the software is not protectable with patents (though it may be protectable with copyright), and neither is the object code or the [...]

A patent examiner at the USPTO will sometimes send an Election/Restriction Requirement in response to a patent application.  This is an assertion by the examiner that the application claims more [...]

Inventors and entrepreneurs usually ask: what information is needed for a patent application?  The shortest answer is “a bunch!” Call me at 617-340-9295 or email me at my Contact Me [...]

Patent prosecution is the process of applying for a patent with a national patent office, such as the USPTO, assessing their responses, and following up on the application to have one or more [...]

I ordered takeout food recently, and we had a mix-up at the restaurant that made me think of the US patent system, and its recent switch from a “first to invent” to a “first to [...]

You have an idea for a product, an app, or a service, and you want to pursue patent protection.  But should you assign patent rights to your company?  Or if you haven’t started a company, [...]

Reflecting on Veterans Day last week, as a patent attorney, I thought about inventions and patents that have kept, and still keep, our service members safer and let them do their jobs more [...]

In the U.S., “public use” of an invention can block the inventor from being able to patent the invention.  This “public use” bar can be applied broadly.  If the public use [...]

There are six patent reform bills making their way through Congress now, with proposed changes to fee-shifting, pleading requirements, the presumption in favor of or against issued patents, and [...]