The United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO or USPTO) is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce is the Cabinet department of the United States government concerned with promoting economic growth. It was originally created as the United States Department of Commerce and Labor on February 14, 1903. It was subsequently renamed to the Department of Commerce on March 4, 1913, and its bureaus and agencies that issues patents A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state (national government) to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for a public disclosure of an invention to inventors An invention is a new composition, device, or process. An invention may be derived from a pre-existing model or idea, or it could be independently conceived in which case it may be a radical breakthrough. In addition, there is cultural invention, which is an innovative set of useful social behaviors adopted by people and passed on to others and businesses for their inventions, and trademark A trademark or trade mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or services from those of other entities registration for product and intellectual property Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which property rights are recognised--and the corresponding fields of law. Under intellectual property law, owners are granted certain exclusive rights to a variety of intangible assets, such as musical, literary, and artistic works; discoveries identification.

The USPTO is based in Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 128,283. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately 6 miles south of downtown Washington, D.C, after a 2006 move from the Crystal City Crystal City is an urban neighborhood in the southeastern corner of Arlington County, Virginia, south of downtown Washington, D.C. area of Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county of about 210,000 residents in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is located directly across the Potomac River to the southwest of Washington, D.C. Formerly part of the District of Columbia, the land now composing the county was retroceded to Virginia on July 9, 1846, in an act of Congress that took effect in 1847. It was. The offices under Patents and the Chief Information Officer that remained just outside the southern end of Crystal City completed moving to Randolph Square, a brand new building in Shirlington Village Shirlington is a population center officially called an "urban village" in the southern part of Arlington County, Virginia, United States, adjacent to the Fairlington area. The word "Shirlington" is a combination of "Shirley" and "Arlington." It is mostly middle-class residential, but like most of Arlington, on April 27, 2009. Since 1991, the office has been fully funded by fees charged for processing patents and trademarks. The head of the USPTO is David J. Kappos, who was sworn in on August 13, 2009^[1] following the United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate and the House are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution . Each U.S state is represented by two senators, regardless of population. Senators serve staggered's confirmation of his appointment by President The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is one of only two nationally elected federal officers, the other being the Vice President of the United States Barack Obama A native of Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992.^[2] He succeeded John Doll, who served as acting head following the resignation of Jon W. Dudas at the end of the George W. Bush administration The Presidency of George W. Bush began on January 20, 2001, when he was inaugurated as the 43rd President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush was elected president in the 2000 general election, and became the second US president whose father had held the same office.^[3]

The USPTO cooperates with the European Patent Office The European Patent Office is one of the two organs of the European Patent Organisation (EPOrg), the other being the Administrative Council. The EPO acts as executive body for the Organisation while the Administrative Council acts as its supervisory body as well as, to a limited extent, its legislative body. The actual legislative power to revise (EPO) and the Japan Patent Office (JPO) as one of the Trilateral Patent Offices The Trilateral Patent Offices, or simply the Trilateral Offices, are the European Patent Office , the Japan Patent Office (JPO) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In 1983, these patent offices set up a programme of co-operation in an effort to "improve efficiency of the global patent system". The USPTO is also a Receiving Office, an International Searching Authority and an International Preliminary Examination Authority for international patent applications filed in accordance with the Patent Cooperation Treaty The Patent Cooperation Treaty is an international patent law treaty, concluded in 1970. It provides a unified procedure for filing patent applications to protect inventions in each of its Contracting States (see Accession section below for current membership information). A patent application filed under the PCT is called an international.

Mission

The legal basis for the United States patent system is Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme law of the United States. It is the foundation and source of the legal authority underlying the existence of the United States of America and the federal government of the United States. It provides the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the, wherein the powers of Congress are defined. It states, in part:

"The Congress shall have Power ... To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;"

The mission of the PTO is to promote "industrial and technological progress in the United States ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language and strengthen the national economy" by:

• administering the laws relating to patents and trademarks;
• advising the Secretary of Commerce The United States Secretary of Commerce is the head of the United States Department of Commerce concerned with business and industry; the Department states its mission to be "to foster, promote, and develop the foreign and domestic commerce." Until 1913 there was one Secretary of Commerce and Labor, uniting this department with the, the President of the United States The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is one of only two nationally elected federal officers, the other being the Vice President of the United States, and the administration on patent, trademark, and copyright Copyright is the set of exclusive rights granted to the author or creator of an original work, including the right to copy, distribute and adapt the work. These rights can be licensed, transferred and/or assigned. Copyright lasts for a certain time period after which the work is said to enter the public domain. Copyright applies to a wide range of protection; and
• providing advice on the trade-related aspects of intellectual property Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which property rights are recognised--and the corresponding fields of law. Under intellectual property law, owners are granted certain exclusive rights to a variety of intangible assets, such as musical, literary, and artistic works; discoveries.

Structure

As of September 30, 2009)^[update], the end of the U.S. government's fiscal year, the PTO had 9,716 employees, nearly all of whom are based at its huge five-building headquarters complex in Alexandria. Of those, 6,242 were patent examiners A patent examiner or patent clerk is an employee, usually a civil servant, working at a patent office. Major employers of patent examiners are the European Patent Office , the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Japan Patent Office (almost all of whom were assigned to examine utility patents; only 99 were assigned to examine design patents In the United States, a design patent is a patent granted on the ornamental design of a functional item. Design patents are a type of industrial design right. Ornamental designs of jewelry, furniture, beverage containers and computer icons are examples of objects that are covered by design patents) and 388 were trademark examining attorneys; the rest are support staff.^[4] While the agency has noticeably grown in recent years, the rate of growth was far slower in fiscal 2009 than in the recent past; this is borne out by data from fiscal 2005 to the present:^[4]

Patent examiners are generally scientists and engineers who do not necessarily hold law degrees, while all trademark examiners must be licensed attorneys. All examiners work under a strict, "count"-based production system.^[5] For every application, "counts" are earned by composing, filing, and mailing a first Office action on the merits, and upon disposal of an application.

The Commissioner for Patents oversees three main bodies, headed by the Deputy Commissioner for Patent Operations, currently^[when?] Peggy Focarino, the Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy, currently^[when?] Andrew Hirshfeld as Acting Deputy, and finally the Commissioner for Patent Resources and Planning, which is currently^[when?] vacant.^[6] The Patent Operations of the office is divided into nine different technology centers that deal with various arts.^[7]

Decisions of patent examiners may be appealed to the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences The Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences is an administrative law body of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), which decides issues of patentability. The Chief Administrative Patent Judge is Michael R. Fleming, an administrative law body In the United States, the American legal system includes both state courts and federal courts. The federal tribunal may be either one of the United States federal courts or another adjudicative body and can be classified as Article I tribunal, Article II tribunal, Article III or an Article IV tribunal, in reference to the article of the of the USPTO. Decisions of the BPAI may further be appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is a United States court of appeals headquartered in Washington, D.C.. The court was created by Congress with passage of the Federal Courts Improvement Act of 1982, which merged the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals and the appellate division of the United States Court of, or a civil suit may be brought against the Commissioner of Patents in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States, and leads the federal judiciary. It consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed with the "advice and consent" of the Senate. Once appointed, Justices effectively may ultimately decide on a patent case. Similarly, decisions of trademark examiners may be appealed to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, with subsequent appeals directed to the Federal Circuit, or a civil action may also be brought.

In recent years, the USPTO has seen increasing delays between when a patent application is filed and when it issues. To address its workload challenges, the USPTO has undertaken an aggressive program of hiring and recruitment. The USPTO hired 1,193 new patent examiners In Fiscal Year 2006 (year ending September 30, 2006),^[8] 1,215 new examiners in fiscal 2007,^[9] and 1,211 in fiscal year 2008.^[10] The USPTO expected to continue hiring patent examiners at a rate of approximately 1,200 per year through 2012; however, due to a slowdown in new application filings since the onset of the late-2000s economic crisis The late-2000s recession is an economic recession that began in the United States in December 2007 (and with much greater intensity since September 2008, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research). It spread to much of the industrialized world, and has caused a pronounced deceleration of economic activity. This global recession has,^[11] and projections of substantial declines in maintenance fees Maintenance fees or renewal fees are fees that are paid to maintain a granted patent in force. Some patent laws require the payment of maintenance fees for pending patent applications. Not all patent laws require the payment of maintenance fees and different laws provide different regulations concerning not only the amount payable but also the in coming years,^[12] the agency imposed a hiring freeze in early March 2009.^[13]

In 2006, USPTO instituted a new training program for patent examiners called the "Patent Training Academy." It is an eight-month program designed to teach new patent examiners the fundamentals of patent law, practice and examination procedure in a college-style environment.^[14] Because of the impending USPTO budget crisis previously alluded to, it had been rumored that the Academy would be closed by the end of 2009.^[12] Focarino, then Acting Commissioner for Patents, denied in a May 2009 interview that the Academy was being shut down, but stated that it would be cut back because the hiring goal for new examiners in fiscal 2009 was reduced to 600.^[15] Ultimately, 588 new patent examiners were hired in fiscal 2009.^[16]

Fee diversion

For many years, Congress The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States of America, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C "diverted" about 10% of the fees that the USPTO collected into the general treasury of the United States. In effect, this took money collected from the patent system to use for the general budget. This fee diversion has been generally opposed by patent practitioners (e.g., patent attorneys A patent attorney is an attorney who has the specialized qualifications necessary for representing clients in obtaining patents and acting in all matters and procedures relating to patent law and practice, such as filing an opposition. The term is used differently in different countries, and thus may or may not require the same legal and patent agents A patent attorney is an attorney who has the specialized qualifications necessary for representing clients in obtaining patents and acting in all matters and procedures relating to patent law and practice, such as filing an opposition. The term is used differently in different countries, and thus may or may not require the same legal), inventors An invention is a new composition, device, or process. An invention may be derived from a pre-existing model or idea, or it could be independently conceived in which case it may be a radical breakthrough. In addition, there is cultural invention, which is an innovative set of useful social behaviors adopted by people and passed on to others, and the USPTO.^[17] These stakeholders would rather use the funds to improve the patent office and patent system, such as by implementing the USPTO's 21st Century Strategic Plan.^[18] The last six annual budgets of the George W. Bush George Walker Bush ( /ˈdʒɔrdʒ ˈwɔːkər ˈbʊʃ/ ; born July 6, 1946) was the 43rd President of the United States, serving from 2001 to 2009, and the 46th Governor of Texas, serving from 1995 to 2000 administration did not divert any USPTO fees, and the first budget of the Barack Obama A native of Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 administration continues this practice; however, stakeholders continue to press for a permanent end to fee diversion.^[19]

Patents

• On July 31, 1790, the first U.S. patent was issued to Samuel Hopkins Samuel Hopkins was an American inventor from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Pittsford, Vermont. On July 31, 1790 he was granted the first U.S. patent, under the new U.S. patent statute just signed into law by President Washington on April 10, 1790. Hopkins had petitioned for a patent on an improvement "in the making of Pot ash and Pearl ash for an improvement "in the making of Pot ash Potash is the common name for potassium carbonate and various mined and manufactured salts that contain the element potassium in water-soluble form. In some rare cases, potash can be formed with traces of organic materials such as plant remains and Pearl ash Potassium carbonate is a white salt, soluble in water (insoluble in alcohol), which forms a strongly alkaline solution. It can be made as the product of potassium hydroxide's absorbent reaction with carbon dioxide. It is deliquescent, often appearing a damp or wet solid. Potassium carbonate is used in the production of soap and glass by a new Apparatus and Process." This patent was signed by then President George Washington George Washington served as the first constitutional President of the United States from 1789 to 1797, and as the commander of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War from 1775 to 1783. His role in the revolution and subsequent independence and formation of the United States was significant, and is seen by Americans as the ".
• The X-Patents (the first 10,280 issued between 1790 and 1836) were destroyed by a fire; fewer than 3,000 of those have been recovered and re-issued with numbers that include an "X". The X generally appears at the end of the numbers hand-written on full-page patent images; however, in patent collections and for search purposes, the X is considered to be the patent type – analogous to the "D" of design patents – and appears at the beginning of the number. The X distinguishes the patents from those issued after the fire, which began again with patent number 1.
• Each year, the PTO issues over 150,000 patents to companies and individuals worldwide. As of February 2008^[update], the PTO has granted over 7,950,000 patents.

Trademarks

The USPTO examines applications for trademark A trademark or trade mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or services from those of other entities registration. If approved, the trademarks are registered on either the Principal Register or the Supplemental Register, depending upon whether the mark meets the appropriate distinctiveness criteria. However, this function is declining in popularity as trademark applicants move to cheaper, more straightforward state-by-state registrations.^{[20] [21]}

Representation

The PTO only allows certain qualified persons to practice before the PTO. Practice includes filing of patent applications on behalf of inventors, prosecuting patent applications on behalf of inventors, and participating in administrative appeals and other proceedings before the PTO examiners and boards. The PTO sets its own standards for who may practice and requires that any person who practices become registered. A patent agent is a person who has passed the USPTO registration examination (the "patent bar") but has not passed any state bar exam to become a licensed attorney; a patent attorney is a person who has passed both a state bar and the patent bar and is in good standing as an attorney.^[22] A patent agent can only act in a representative capacity in patent matters presented to the USPTO, and may not represent a patent holder or applicant in a court of law. To be eligible for taking the patent bar exam, a candidate must possess a degree in "engineering or physical science or the equivalent of such a degree".^[22]

The United States allows any citizen from any country to sit for the patent bar (if he/she has the requisite technical background).^[23] Only Canada has a reciprocity agreement with the United States that confers upon a patent agent similar rights.^[24]

An unrepresented inventor may file a patent application and prosecute it on his or her own behalf (pro se Pro se legal representation means advocating on one's own behalf before a court, rather than being represented by a lawyer. This may occur in any court proceeding, whether one is the defendant or plaintiff, and whether the matter is civil or criminal. Pro se is a Latin phrase meaning "for oneself". This status is sometimes known as). If it appears to a patent examiner that an inventor filing a pro se application is not familiar with the proper procedures of the Patent Office, the examiner may suggest that the filing party obtain representation by a registered patent attorney or patent agent.^[25] The patent examiner cannot recommend a specific attorney or agent, but the Patent Office does post a list of those who are registered.^[26]

While the inventor of a relatively simple-to-describe invention may well be able to produce an adequate specification and detailed drawings, there remains language complexity in what is claimed Patent claims are usually in the form of a series of specified elements and corresponding limitations, or more precisely noun phrases, following the description portion of the invention in a patent or patent application. The claims define, in technical terms, the extent of the protection conferred by a patent, or the protection sought in a patent, either in the particular claim language of a utility application, or in the manner in which drawings are presented in a design application. There is also skill required when searching for prior art that is used to support the application and to prevent applying for a patent for something that may be unpatentable. A patent examiner will make special efforts to help pro se inventors understand the process but the failure to adequately understand or respond to an Office action from the USPTO can endanger the inventor's rights, and may lead to abandonment of the application.

Electronic filing system

The USPTO will accept patent applications filed in electronic form. As of March 2006^[update], inventors or their patent agents/attorneys can file applications as Adobe PDF Portable Document Format is a generic computer term.[citation needed] The best-known PDF implementation is Adobe PDF, a file format created by Adobe Systems in 1993 for document exchange. The remainder of this article discusses Adobe PDF exclusively documents. The web page for submitting applications is https://sportal.uspto.gov/secure/portal/efs-unregistered. Filing fees can be paid by credit card or by a USPTO "deposit account".

Electronic retrieval system

The USPTO web site provides free electronic copies of issued patents and patent applications as multiple-page TIFF Tagged Image File Format is a file format for storing images, popular among Apple Macintosh owners, graphic artists, the publishing industry, and both amateur and professional photographers in general. As of 2009, it is under the control of Adobe Systems. Originally created by the company Aldus for use with what was then called "desktop (graphic) documents. The site also provides Boolean search and analysis tools.

The USPTO's free distribution service only distributes the patent documents as a set of TIFF files.^[27] Numerous free and commercial services provide patent documents in other formats, such as Adobe PDF Portable Document Format is a file format created by Adobe Systems in 1993 for document exchange. PDF is used for representing two-dimensional documents in a manner independent of the application software, hardware, and operating system and CPC.

Criticisms

The USPTO has been criticized for granting patents for impossible or absurd, already known, or arguably obvious inventions.^[28]

Controversial patents

• U.S. Patent 5,443,036, "Method of exercising a cat", covers having a cat chase the beam from a laser pointer. The patent has been criticized as being obvious.^[29][30]
• U.S. Patent 6,004,596, "Sealed crustless sandwich", issued in 1999, covers the design of a sandwich with crimped edges.^[29][31] However, all claims of the patent were subsequently canceled by the PTO upon reexamination.^[32]
• U.S. Patent 6,025,810, "Hyper-light-speed antenna", an antenna that sends signals faster than the speed of light.^[28] According to the description in the patent, "The present invention takes a transmission of energy, and instead of sending it through normal time and space, it pokes a small hole into another dimension, thus, sending the energy through a place which allows transmission of energy to exceed the speed of light."^[33]
• U.S. Patent 6,368,227, "Method of swinging on a swing", issued April 9, 2002^[34] by patent examiner Kien T. Nguyen,^[35] was granted to a seven-year old boy, whose father, a patent attorney, wanted to demonstrate how the patent system worked to his son (aged 5 at the time of the application). The PTO initially rejected it due to prior art, but eventually issued the patent.^[34] However, all claims of the patent were subsequently canceled by the PTO upon reexamination.^[36]
• U.S. Patent 6,960,975, "Space vehicle propelled by the pressure of inflationary vacuum state", describes an anti-gravity In physical cosmology, astronomy and celestial mechanics, anti-gravity is the idea of creating a place or object that is free from the force of gravity. It does not refer to the lack of weight under gravity experienced in free fall or orbit, nor to balancing the force of gravity with some other force, such as electromagnetism or aerodynamic lift device. In November 2005, the USPTO was criticized by physicists for granting it. The journal Nature Nature is a prominent British scientific journal, first published on 4 November 1869. It is the world's most highly cited interdisciplinary science journal. Most scientific journals are now highly specialized, and Nature is among the few journals that still publish original research articles across a wide range of scientific fields. There are many first highlighted this patent issued for a device that presumably amounts to a perpetual motion Perpetual motion would occur in a device or system if a motion, once started, were to continue indefinitely. The laws of thermodynamics demonstrate that perpetual motion devices cannot be created machine, defying the laws of physics.^{[37][38][39][40]} The device comprises a particular electrically superconducting Superconductivity is an electrical resistance of exactly zero which occurs in certain materials below a characteristic temperature. It was discovered by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes in 1911. Like ferromagnetism and atomic spectral lines, superconductivity is a quantum mechanical phenomenon. It is also characterized by a phenomenon called the Meissner shield and electromagnetic generating device. The examiner allowed the claims because the design of the shield and device was novel and not obvious.^[41] In situations such as this where a substantial question of patentability is raised after a patent issues, the Commissioner of the Patent Office can order a reexamination of the patent.

Controversial trademarks

• U.S. Trademark 77,139,082, "Cloud Computing" for Dell, covering "custom manufacture of computer hardware for use in data centers and mega-scale computing environments for others", was allowed by a trademark attorney on July 8, 2008. Cloud computing is a generic term that could define technology infrastructure for years to come, which had been in general use at the time of the application.^[42] The application was rejected on August 12, 2008 as descriptive and generic.^[43]
• U.S. Trademark 75,215,401, "Netbook" for Psion, covering "laptop computers" was registered on November 21, 2000. Although the company discontinued the netBook line in November 2003 and allowed the trademark to become genericized through use by journalists and vendors (products marketed as 'netbooks' include the Dell Inspiron Mini Series, Asus eeePC, HP Mini 1000, MSI Wind Netbook and others), USPTO subsequently rejected a number of trademarks citing a "likelihood of confusion" under section 2(d), including 'G NETBOOK' (U.S. Trademark 77,527,311 rejected October 31, 2008), MSI's 'WIND NETBOOK' (U.S. Trademark ) and Coby Electronics' 'COBY NETBOOK' (U.S. Trademark 77,590,174 rejected January 13, 2009. Psion also delivered a batch of cease and desist letters on December 23, 2008 relating to the genericized trademark.^[44]

Slow patent examination and backlog

The USPTO has been criticized for taking an inordinate amount of time in examining patent applications. This is particularly true in the fast growing area^{[dated info]} of business method patents. As of 2005, patent examiners in the business method area were still examining patent applications filed in 2001.^{[citation needed]}

The delay was attributed by spokesmen for the Patent Office to a combination of a sudden increase in business method patent filings after the 1998 State Street Bank decision, the unfamiliarity of patent examiners with the business and financial arts (e.g., banking, insurance, stock trading etc.), and the issuance of a number of controversial patents (e.g., U.S. Patent 5,960,411 "Amazon one click patent") in the business method area.

Effective in August 2006, the USPTO introduced an accelerated patent examination procedure in an effort to allow inventors a speedy evaluation of an application with a final disposition within twelve months. The procedure requires additional information to be submitted with the application and also includes an interview with the examiner.^[45] The first accelerated patent was granted on March 15, 2007 with a 6 month issuance time.^[46]

As of the end of 2008, there were 1,208,076 patent applications pending at the Patent Office. At the end of 1997, the number of pending applications pending was 275,295. Therefore, over those eleven years there was a 439% increase in the number of pending applications.^[47]

See also

• United States patent law
• History of United States patent law
• Timeline of United States inventions
• Timeline of United States discoveries
• Science and technology in the United States
• National Inventors Hall of Fame
• NASA spinoff
• Yankee ingenuity
• Technological history of the United States
• Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI)
• Confederate Patent Office
• Ex Parte Quayle
• Invention Secrecy Act
• John Ruggles
• Old Patent Office Building
• Patent office
• Patent Office Professional Association (POPA)
• Term of patent in the United States
• Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB)
• Trilateral Patent Offices

References and notes

1. ^ Crouch, Dennis (2009-08-13). "Kappos Sworn in as Director". Patently-O. http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2009/08/kappos-sworn-in-as-director.html. Retrieved 2009-08-17.
2. ^ United States Patent and Trademark Office (2009-08-07). "David Kappos Confirmed as Patent and Trademark Office Director". Press release. http://www.uspto.gov/main/homepagenews/2009aug07.htm. Retrieved 2009-08-11.
3. ^ Crouch, Dennis (January 16, 2009). "Bits and Bytes NO. 88". Patently-O. http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2009/01/patently-o-bi-3.html. Retrieved January 29, 2009.
4. ^ ^{a b} "USPTO Performance and Accountability Report Fiscal Year 2009" (PDF). United States Patent and Trademark Office. p. 140. http://www.uspto.gov/about/stratplan/ar/2009/2009annualreport.pdf. Retrieved 2010-01-16.
5. ^ "1705 Examiner Docket, Time, and Activity Recordation [R-5] - 1700 Miscellaneous". United States Patent and Trademark Office. http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/documents/1700_1705.htm. Retrieved 2010-01-29.
6. ^ "Patent Organization". United States Patent and Trademark Office. http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/. Retrieved 2010-01-29.
7. ^ "Office of the Commissioner for Patents". United States Patent and Trademark Office. 2009-12-30. http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/dacp/index.html. Retrieved 2010-01-29.
8. ^ "Patent Performance for the year 2006". United States Patent and Trademark Office. http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/annual/2006/3020100_patentperfrm.html.
9. ^ "USPTO Performance and Accountability Report Fiscal Year 2007" (PDF). United States Patent and Trademark Office. http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/annual/2007/2007annualreport.pdf. Retrieved 2009-04-23.
10. ^ "USPTO Performance and Accountability Report Fiscal Year 2008" (PDF). United States Patent and Trademark Office. http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/annual/2008/2008annualreport.pdf. Retrieved 2009-04-23.
11. ^ Crouch, Dennis (2009-04-12). "Economic Downturn => Downturn in Patent Filings". Patently-O. http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2009/04/economic-downturn-downturn-in-patent-filings.html. Retrieved 2009-04-13.
12. ^ ^{a b} Quinn, Gene (2009-03-23). "Patent Academy Closing, USPTO Budget Crisis Deepening?". IPWatchdog. http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2009/03/23/patent-academy-closing-uspto-budget-crisis-deepening/. Retrieved 2009-04-13.
13. ^ Quinn, Gene (2009-03-02). "PTO Hiring Freeze and Budget Problems". IPWatchdog. http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2009/03/02/pto-hiring-freeze-and-budget-problems/. Retrieved 2009-04-13.
14. ^ USPTO Annual Report 2006, The Nature of the Training Provided to USPTO Examiners
15. ^ Quinn, Gene (2009-05-12). "An Interview with the Acting Commissioner for Patents". IPWatchdog. http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2009/05/12/an-interview-with-the-acting-commissioner-for-patents/id=3381/. Retrieved 2009-05-24.
16. ^ "USPTO Performance and Accountability Report Fiscal Year 2009" (PDF). United States Patent and Trademark Office. p. 14. http://www.uspto.gov/about/stratplan/ar/2009/2009annualreport.pdf. Retrieved 2010-01-16.
17. ^ United States Patent and Trademark Office (February 2, 2004). "President's proposed budget ends USPTO fee diversion in FY 2005". Press release. http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/speeches/04-03.htm. Retrieved 2006-11-24.
18. ^ "Strategic Plan for the 21st Century". United States Patent and Trademark Office. February 24, 2006. http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/strat21/. Retrieved 2006-11-24.
19. ^ Zuhn, Donald (2009-05-20). "Docs at BIO: Panel Offers Suggestions for Fixing the USPTO -- Updated". PatentDocs.org. http://www.patentdocs.org/2009/05/docs-at-bio-panel-offers-suggestions-for-fixing-the-uspto.html. Retrieved 2009-05-24.
20. ^ "State Trademark Information". FindLaw For Small Business. February 11, 2008. http://smallbusiness.findlaw.com/trademark/trademark-registration/state-trademark-info-links.html. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
21. ^ "Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS)". United States Patent and Trademark Office. February 11, 2008. http://www.uspto.gov. Retrieved 2008-02-11. Note: click on "Trademarks" then click on "TESS" tab.
22. ^ ^{a b} "General Information Concerning Patents: Attorneys and Agents". United States Patent and Trademark Office. http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/doc/general/attorney.htm. Retrieved 2010-01-29.
23. ^ 37 C.F.R. 11.7
24. ^ "Decision on Petition Under 37 C.F.R. § 10.2(c)" (PDF). May 9, 2003. http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/sol/foia/oed/legal/legal11.pdf. Retrieved 2010-01-29.
25. ^ Manual of Patent Examining Procedure, Chapter 400
26. ^ "Patent Attorney/Agent Search". Office of Enrollment and Discipline, United States Patent and Trademark Office. https://oedci.uspto.gov/OEDCI/.
27. ^ Patent Full-Page Images
28. ^ ^{a b} Philip E. Ross, Patently Absurd, Forbes.com, May 29, 2000.
29. ^ ^{a b} Hal H. Varian (2004-10-21). "Patent Protection Gone Awry". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/21/business/21scene.html.
30. ^ Lauren Weinstein (2002-10-21). "Stop the Patent Process Madness". Wired News. http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2002/10/55831.
31. ^ Sara Schaefer Muñoz (2005-04-05). "Patent No. 6,004,596: Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich". The Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB111266108673297874.html.
32. ^ Reexamination certificate no. US 6,004,596 C1, September 25, 2007, retrieved from USPTO Public Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR), December 1, 2008 (request PAIR entry for Reexamination Control Number 90/005949 as "Application Number").
33. ^ U.S. Patent 6,025,810, col. 1, lines 30-34.
34. ^ ^{a b} Jeff Hecht (2002-04-17). "Boy takes swing at US patents". New Scientist. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2178-boy-takes-swing-at-us-patents.html.
35. ^ Teresa Riordan (2002-05-13). "Patents; The Patent Office faces huge backlogs, extremely technical inventions, and absurd ones.". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/13/business/patents-patent-office-faces-huge-backlogs-extremely-technical-inventions-absurd.html.
36. ^ Reexamination certificate no. US 6,368,227 C1, July 1, 2003, retrieved from USPTO Public Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR), August 22, 2008
37. ^ Ball, Philip (November 10, 2005). "Antigravity craft slips past patent officers". Nature 438 (7065): 139. doi:10.1038/438139a. PMID 16280998.
38. ^ United Press International (2005). "Patent issued for anti-gravity device". Phyorg.com. http://www.physorg.com/news8042.html. Retrieved 2006-11-24.
39. ^ Brian Handwerk (November 11, 2005). "Antigravity Machine Patent Draws Physicists' Ire". National Geographic News. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/11/1111_051111_junk_patent.html. Retrieved 2006-11-24.
40. ^ An untraceable link was also included here as an additional reference.^{[broken citation]}
41. ^ Ramon M Barrera (examiner) (June 7, 2005). "Notice of Allowance and Fees Due (PTOL-85)" (PDF). 11/079,670 Space Vehicle Propelled by the Pressure of Inflationary Vacuum State. United States Patent and Trademark Office. p. 2. http://portal.uspto.gov/external/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_CH/.cmd/ad/.ar/sa.getBib/.ps/N/.c/6_0_69/.ce/7_0_3AB/.p/5_0_341/.d/2?selectedTab=ifwtab&isSubmitted=isSubmitted&dosnum=11079670#7_0_3AB. Retrieved 2006-11-24. Note: Navigate to the 'Image File Wrapper' to find the file; download and open with a PDF reader. The specific passage from the document follows: "The following is an examiner's statement of reasons for allowance: None of the prior art of record taught or disclosed the claimed superconducting shield and electromagnetic field generating means structure."
42. ^ Dell Tries to Trademark 'cloud Computing'
43. ^ Dell Cloud Computing Trademark Rejected
44. ^ A netbook by any other name, or how Psion is going discover you have to use it or lose it
45. ^ USPTO Accelerated Patent Examination
46. ^ USPTO grants first patent under accelerated review option Press Release
47. ^ Gene Quinn, How to Fix the USPTO, IPWatchdog, November 21, 2008. Consulted on December 6, 2008.

External links

• USPTO
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  • Patent Full-Text and Full-Page Image Databases

Papers

• "U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Appropriations Process: A Brief Explanation", United States Congressional Research Service, March 4, 2002

Categories: Intellectual property organizations | Patent offices | United States trademark law | United States patent law | United States Department of Commerce agencies

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