Late US National Stage Entry So you missed the 30-month US national phase deadline. To file a late US national stage application, the entire delay…

What is a foreign registration filing basis? It is possible to file a US trademark application based on a foreign registration for the same mark.…

Duty to Disclose Known Information Material to Patentability U.S. patent law places an obligation on applicants to notify the USPTO of known information that is…

What is the deadline for filing a certified foreign priority document in a utility patent application? Under the new AIA rules for US utility applications…

Can you file a design patent application after filing a utility patent application? Suppose you started with filing a utility nonprovisional patent application. After a…

Petition to Make Special Based on Inventor Age There’s a streamlined way to speed up utility patent applications based on the inventor’s age. An inventor…

Strict USPTO Rules for Design Patent Drawings The USPTO has strict standards for US design patent drawings. These strict rules govern which views are required…

Only one mark per application It should come as no surprise that one trademark application can cover only one mark. In other words, you may…

USPTO Cost Differences Between a Large and Small Entity At the outset, one of the first questions we ask a corporate patent applicant is the…

IP resources for startups As an early stage startup, you cannot ignore the significance of IP. At the same time, your budget for protecting your…

What is a trademark Office Action? A trademark Office Action is a letter issued by the USPTO examiner reviewing your trademark application. Actually, a USPTO…

What is a likelihood of confusion rejection? A rejection on the grounds of likelihood of confusion is basically a refusal to register your mark because…

National stage flat fee cost estimates A PCT application allows you to file your patent application in multiple countries. To do so, an applicant enters…

What are IPR petition requirements? IPR stands for Inter Partes Review which is a proceeding held before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the…

A rough ballpark estimate of the costs of an inter partes review is approximately $300K to $600K.  That is by no means cheap, but may still…