OC Patent Lawyer Orange County Patent Lawyer welcomes clients in the Orange County region, recommends cost efficient patent protection strategy

Patent rights initially vest with the person that conceives of the invention.  For example, if a company hires an independent contractors, patent rights initially vest with the independent contractor.  If the company hiring the independent contractor wants to exploit the invention, the company must acquire the patent rights from the independent contractor through an assignment.  [...]

The United States follows a first-to-invent rule wherein the first person to invent is awarded a patent.  For example, if an inventor can prove that he or she conceived of the invention before someone else and diligently worked toward making a working model or filing a patent application, then that inventor will be awarded the [...]

Generally, the basic term of a patent is either 20 years from the filing date of the patent application or 17 years from the issue date of the patent whichever is greater.  However, there are many variations from the basic term.  For example, the patent term for a continuation patent is calculated not from its [...]

After a patent application is filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, each individual involved with the patent application has a duty to disclose information that is material to the patentability of the invention.  Failure to disclose all material information coupled with an intent to mislead the Patent Office may jeopardize the validity [...]

The rules regarding continuation practice and claim practice which were proposed and would have been implemented in 2007 have been enjoined ever since. On September 21, 2009, the Patent Office with GlaxoSmithKline and Dr. Tafas filed a joint motion to dismiss the appeal and vacate the judgment of the district court since the Patent Office [...]

The patent statute (35 USC § 121) indicates that divisional patent applications cannot be receive a double patenting rejection based on claims of a parent application. This is commonly known as the safe harbor provision of Section 121. The following case illustrates whether the safe harbor applies to a patent application that is a divisional [...]

Liability for patent infringement may arise directly or indirectly. For direct patent infringement liability, a defendant makes, uses, sells, offers for sale or imports a product that infringes a patent. For indirect patent infringement liability, the accused actor is assisting someone else in directly infringing a patent either by inducing them to infringe or by [...]