Posts by Stephen B. Schott
2 Minute IP: How Can I Get My Patent Faster?
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Read MoreOn Octopi and Myths of Claim Drafting: Negative Limitations and Empty Spaces
The plural of octopus is a funny word. Ask most people and they’ll tell you that it’s octopi. That conclusion is born from how to properly make Latin words plural. For example, the plural for the Latin-origin word radius is, when pluralized in Latin, radii. Many people and even the excellent Webster’s Third New International Dictionary naturally follow the Latin usage when…
Read MoreWhat Is A Provisional Application’s Prior Art Date?
By Stephen B. SchottProvisional applications have a filing date and a publication date. How do you decide which date to use as prior art when using a provisional to invalidate or challenge a patent claim? Enter the Federal Circuit’s recent Dynamic Drinkware v. National Graphics decision.Claiming Priority to a Provisional Patent ApplicationThe law that governs a priority claim to…
Read MoreCan You Get An International Trademark? The Madrid Protocol
An Article in Schott, P.C.’s IP Law For Start-ups SeriesBy Stephen B. Schott If you have valuable intellectual property, you may want international protection. For your patents, you can file an application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty or with the European Patent Office. For trademarks, you will want to consider a filing under the Madrid Protocol.The Madrid Protocol permits a…
Read MoreFitting Software Claims Into Statutory Categories
By Stephen B. SchottMost patents and applications directed at software frame the claims in terms of processes. This is a safe choice because the US Code that defines patentable subject matter limits the number of categories for what is patentable: Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new…
Read MoreCan I Get An International Patent? PCT Application Basics
An Article in Schott, PC’s IP Law for Startups Series “Can I file for an international patent?” This is a common question. There’s one simple answer and one extended one.The simple answer is that there is no international patent. Patents can only be enforced in the countries where they are valid. There is one exception: a new patent…
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