Patent Prosecution
Better Patents Now Podcast
Taking Patent Analytics to the Next Level
Maintaining Healthy Patent Portfolios
Visual Learning: A Guide for Patent Professionals
Visual learners are those who understand information better when they can see it. While not everyone considers themselves “visual learners” (more so than any other sort, anyway), visual learning is, to varying degrees, a helpful tool for most of us. Visual elements...
5 Ways To Enhance Patent Strategy With Data Analytics
By Eric Snustad Originally published on Law360.comNot long ago, the primary manner in which patent practitioners would obtain information about a particular examiner’s working style was to actually interview or otherwise work with the examiner, hear reports of...
Announcing the All-New PatentAdvisor Benchmarking Reports™
Easily and objectively compare prosecution outcomes for law firms and companies with the most accurate and objective prosecution performance metrics available. The all-new real-time, fully-customizable PatentAdvisor Benchmarking Reports™ provide reliable...
Objectively Measure Patent Prosecution Performance by Normalizing for Examiner Difficulty
Some examiners are more difficult than others. The PatentAdvisor Efficiency ScoreTM levels the playing field by taking examiner difficulty out of the equation and scoring purely for efficiency.All of the metrics currently used to measure corporate and law firm...
The Three Cs of Data: A Patent Data Checklist for Reliable Information
Using USPTO patent data to inform and develop patent prosecution strategies is a growing trend among professionals. This is no surprise—analyzing patent examiner statistics and other performance metrics provides insights that would otherwise be unknown and reveals...
Stylus Upgrades: Apple Files Patent Application to Expand Capabilities
The word is out that Apple’s popular iPad Pro® may soon be getting a stylus upgrade. Apple’s U.S. patent application titled “touch-based input for stylus” (U.S. Patent Application No. 16/029,489) put the world on notice that improvements may be on the horizon when it...
How Is Your Prior Art Search Solution? These 3 Numbers Will Tell You…
By: Brian Trotter of Bishop Rock Tech Patents are expensive. Before you start the process, you'll likely do an initial search to confirm your invention is indeed novel and non-obvious. You can do this in-house, or you may use an outside firm that offers these services...
Three Ways to Improve Efficiency in the Patent Process
No one likes to waste time - especially throughout a process like patent prosecution where inefficiencies quickly add up to great expense. The beauty of patent drafting tools is that they take tasks off our plates so we can prosecute our patent applications more...
New Year’s Resolutions, Fitness, and the Patent Office
We arrive in the New Year with optimism and high expectations. As usual, resolutions for self-improvement top the lists of many, and 2020 is the year we are finally going to get in shape. No doubt, fitness is an invaluable part of life as it contributes to our overall...
How to Flow: Patent Prosecution at Every Phase
Patent prosecution is not always a linear process. It is full of twists, turns, and back-and-forths, but there are undeniably distinct phases of the patent process that the top patent professionals are able to seamlessly and efficiently transition between. From...
Performance Reviews Made Easy with Patent Analytics
Another year is coming to a close, and year-end reviews are on the horizon. Evaluating the performance of your patent applications, patent portfolios, and staff is difficult without the proper metrics and tools. Modern patent prosecution tools provide patent...
Words to Live By: Wisdom Collides with Patent Analytics
#1 - Take It All In (And Do Not Miss A Thing) When it comes to patent searches, “taking it all in” is easier said than done. Nearly every patent authority around the world has their own patent database, so completing a broad, global search has always meant taking in...
Set it and Forget it – Let PAIR Watch Alert You to Patent Prosecution Events
Listen as Wayne Birch, Director, IP Product Planning and Operations for LexisNexis IP demonstrates how LexisNexis® PAIR Watch can help you respond to the recent changes to Private PAIR access through the USPTO website, which means that you may no longer be able to...
Examiner ETA™- Changing Perspectives on the Patent Process
When patent practitioners first began using patent data to improve their performance in patent prosecution, they would usually look to USPTO patent examiner statistics for insight. The drawback to exclusively relying on patent examiner statistics, however, is that...
Virtual Reality Patents: Creating a World of Innovation and Imagination
The virtual reality revolution is literally changing the way we see the world. The incredible advances in technology make it possible for people to explore foreign environments from the comfort of their own home. The virtual reality revolution, despite being launched...
Strategize, Optimize, and Revise: Three Steps for Superior Patent Prosecution
For some patent applicants, the journey through the patent process is complicated and does not always have a happy ending. Patent applicants who make the most of the information available to them develop solid plans for drafting, filing, and prosecuting their...
Determining Patent Value with Patent Prosecution Analytics
Patent practitioners are turning to patent analytics to uncover key insights. There are many reasons to assess a patent application’s value. Venture capitalists looking to invest in a company may wish to value the company’s patent portfolio to help determine the...
Are U.S. Patent Examiner Statistics Fair?
Analytics describing what happens at the U.S. patent office have been on the market for almost a decade, most commonly in the form of examiner statistics. It’s no longer news that there is significant outcome variability at the USPTO, and that it’s largely driven by...
How to Automate Office Action Responses
The amount of ways patent prosecution tools can benefit a patent application has grown significantly. LexisNexis PatentOptimizer enables patent practitioners to draft high quality patent applications, as well as generate comprehensive office action responses, with...
Prosecuting for Value: Identifying and Creating Perceived Patent Strength – Webinar Recording
Listen as Gene Quinn, founder and president of IPWatchdog.com, Matt Larson, Vice President at Oceanic Parnters and Megan McLoughlin, Product Director for LexisNexis PatentAdvisor® share tips for altering your prosecution strategy to ensure that the resulting patents...
Improve your Prosecution Efficiency: How to Automate Office Action Responses – Webinar Recording
Listen as David Stitzel, IP Solutions Consultant at LexisNexis IP, demonstrates how the Office Action Response tool can help you gain back time spent on more tedious tasks to focus your attention on doing more of what matters most. 2-Minute Webinar Preview We’ll show...
Setting the Tone of Prosecution with Patent Analytics
There is no perfect formula for prosecuting a patent, but there is plenty of information out there that can be used to help anticipate a patent examiner's behavior. With accurate predictions, patent applicants can strategize and take actions to increase their chances...
Patent Litigation and “The Ice Cream of the Future”
Dippin’ Dots are enjoyed around the world. The delicious ice cream pellets can be found most commonly at amusement parks and have been known to hit the spot on a hot day. Despite being recognized and enjoyed globally, the innovative take on a ubiquitous dessert has...
Webinar Recording: Prosecution Data for Profit: Five Tips for Making the Most of Prosecution Analytics
Listen as Megan McLoughlin, product director of LexisNexis PatentAdvisor® introduces you to some of the ways that more data savvy practitioners are using patent prosecution analytics to get an edge over the competition. 2-Minute Webinar Preview In this webinar you'll...
What Prosecution Features are Tied to Positive Litigation Outcomes?
Obtaining patents that will withstand litigation is one of the primarily goals of a good patent practitioner, but unfortunately, it is not always clear which prosecution strategies will ensure positive outcomes in court. Conventional wisdom used to be that a longer...
A Celebration of the Innovations and Influence of NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) is perhaps the most iconic and influential agency within the United States government. Established in 1958, its mission statement is “to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery, and aeronautics...
Webinar Recording: Five Tips for Better Patent Prosecution in the World of Big Data
Given the size and rapid growth of the US Patent Office—from ~3,000 examiners in 2000 to over 8,000 examiners in 2018—it’s no surprise that different patent examination styles have produced significant outcome variability in prosecution outcomes. Examiner statistics...
Predicting Examiner Behavior with PatentAdvisor ETA™
The most predictive indicator of prosecution length and complexity developed to date. PatentAdvisor Examiner ETA™ is the newest metric exclusively available on the LexisNexis PatentAdvisor® patent analytics platform. It also happens to be the most predictive...
Webinar: Dissecting Alice at 5 – The Good, Bad & the Ugly
Listen as Gene Quinn, President and CEO of IPWatchdog, Inc. hosts a special free webinar discussion focusing on the Alice decision five years later. Joining Gene for this special webinar is Drew Hirshfeld, Commissioner for Patents at the United States Patent and...
A Patent Examiner’s Take on ETA
What might a USPTO examiner have to say about this new way to approach patent prosecution? The newest LexisNexis PatentAdvisor® metric has proven to be the most predictive patent metric yet. Each PatentAdvisor Examiner ETA™ helps patent professionals better...
Patent prosecution is the process of drafting, filing, and working with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to establish a patent protection over the rights to a unique invention.
Patent prosecution begins with a unique idea or design. The inventor can then search through databases of accepted, pending, and rejected patents to learn how their idea compares to what is already available. This research stage allows for the inventor to find out if a patent for a similar product already exists. It can also help the inventor discern what distinguishes their product from previous products.
For a patent to be filed and continue to move through the process, it must be drafted with complete, detailed information regarding the invention and claims. A picture of the design is almost always needed. When the draft is ready, it can be submitted to the patent office as an official application.
A patent examiner will start by verifying that the patent application meets all the criteria to be considered for patentability. This can include originality, meeting formalities, and ensuring the claims are patentable. The examiner will then move to prior art research, similar to the inventor’s initial stage. The examiner will thoroughly research all previous patents to ensure the application does not match anything already approved.
The examiner and the applicant may interact throughout the process to better understand the application and advance the prosecution. Finally, the examiner will approve, reject, or object to the patent application. The examiner will provide information on why the decision was made, and provide further feedback on how to move forward and what to amend. This can be in the form of an office action, which requires the applicant to create a response in order to continue moving forward with the application.
Our suite of products helps you through every step of the patent prosecution process.