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

This blog post has been updated due to the America Invents Act enacted September 16, 2011.  See Virtual patent marking and false patent marking post. The benefit of marking a product with a patent number is that damages accrue upon infringement and not upon actual notice of the patent.  However, if the product is incorrectly marked [...]

Departing employees pose a problem for former employers.  These employees may have been on the verge of discovering a new patentable product, formula, etc. during employment with the former employer.  When they depart, the information acquired during research and development by the employee belongs to the former employer and should not benefit competitors or others.  [...]

A patent provides the patentee the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering for sale and importing the patented invention into the United States.  The right to exclude others from importing the patented invention can be enforced in federal court but also at the International Trade Commission (ITC) which stops the importation at [...]

After patent issuance, the patentee has enforceable rights in that he/she can sue another entity for damages and/or an injunction to stop that entity from making, using, selling, offering for sale or importing the patented invention into the United States.  The ability to sue for past damages goes back six (6) years from the date [...]

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 [...]