Considerations of providing patent and trademark assistance services at one's library

PurposeThe authors' goal in writing this article was to provide background information and detailed considerations to assist those wishing to provide patent and trademark assistance at their libraries. The major considerations include staffing, spaces and resources, with the time commitment from the staff being the most significant.Design/methodology/approachThis paper combined the experiences of an author relatively new to patent and trademark librarianship with one who has years of experience. These were used in tandem with knowledge gained from a decade of attendance at annual week-long seminars at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) as well as by way of a comprehensive literature review.FindingsThe main commitment needed in providing patent and trademark services to the public is not money but the investment of time, which includes professional development, staffing, teaching classes and workshops, outreach and consultations.Originality/valueThe information in this paper should serve as guidance to anyone new to providing patent and trademark services within their libraries, including those at Patent and Trademark Resource Centers (PTRCs), Patent Information Centres (PATLIBs) and beyond. Although articles have been published on various aspects of intellectual property (IP) and libraries, a comprehensive guide to providing patent and trademark services has yet to be published.

Comparative Analysis of Appeal Procedures in the European, American and Brazilian Patent Offices

The right to appeal exists as a response to the two main characteristics of every human being. The first refers to the attitude of not settling for adverse decisions, which leads people to seek instruments to remediate these decisions, while the second is the possibility that every human being has to make mistakes and the need to correct these mistakes in decision-making acts that may have been mistaken. Therefore, an appeal is an instrument that enables review of a decision by a higher authority to obtain its modification or revocation. In the patent system, appeals are used basically to reverse decisions of patent examiners during the examination procedure as, for example, the decision to reject a patent. Although all patent offices have procedures for appeal against first-instance decisions taken by these offices, there are significant differences as to how this procedure is conducted in each office. This chapter will study the laws and regulations, rules and procedures on appeals in two of the main patent offices in the world – the European Patent Office – EPO and the United States Patent and Trademark Office – USPTO, and in the Brazilian Patent Office – INPI, pointing out the main differences between them.

Robert Davol Budlong: el diseño industrial de radios y accesorios para el nuevo hogar

La aparición de nuevos materiales y procesos técnicos trajo consigo la evolución del diseñoindustrial, una de las disciplinas más decisivas en la evolución de la humanidad hacia el conocido comoestado del bienestar, dando sus primeros pasos en la década de los 30. La sustitución de materialesnaturales por otros sintéticos hizo que, por primera vez, se pudiera realizar todo aquello que se pensaba,dando origen al paraíso de los objetos que la alquimia contemporánea del plástico y la introducción denuevas técnicas permitían en su fabricación.El desarrollo del consumo en masa que propiciaron los objetos de plástico hacía necesaria la figura deldiseñador. Su papel se irá imponiendo incluso a la figura del artista, llegando a influir directamente nosólo en los procesos de fabricación sino también en su estructura y por supuesto en el aspecto final delobjeto.Este artículo, fundamentado en la obra de Robert Davol Budlong, uno de los grandes diseñadoresnorteamericanos, está basado, principalmente, en el estudio de los formularios de aplicación parapatentes en la United States Patent and Trademarks Office accesible on-line (USPTO. 2019). Deesta forma documentamos la autoría de numerosos objetos que dieron los primeros pasos hacia lacontemporaneidad.

Potencial das palmeiras nativas da Amazônia Brasileira para a bioeconomia: análise em rede da produção científica e tecnológica

Os recursos naturais provindos das palmeiras Euterpe oleracea, Astrocaryum aculeatum, Mauritia flexuosa, Bactris gasipaes, Oenocarpus bacaba e Attalea maripa potencialmente favorecem o aproveitamento da biodiversidade e são economicamente viáveis ao mercado nacional, em virtude do aproveitamento integral de seus produtos e subprodutos. O objetivo desta pesquisa foi realizar uma prospecção baseada na busca de patentes e produção científica de modo a identificar as potencialidades para a bioeconomia das palmeiras nativas da região amazônica brasileira. Para isso, foi realizado uma pesquisa documental exploratória de abordagem quantitativa, analisando os documentos de patentes depositados aos bancos de dados do Instituto Nacional de Propriedade Industrial do Brasil, Banco de Patentes Latino-americanas, United States Patent and Trademark Office, European Patent Office e World Intellectual Property Organization. Para a prospecção científica, foram utilizados artigos publicados nas plataformas de pesquisas da Elsevier, as quais incluíram Scopus e Science Direct, como também as bases de dados da Springer Link, SciELO e o Periódico da Capes. Os resultados da prospecção foram compilados em redes de dados e gráficos. Do ponto de vista científico, as espécies Euterpe oleracea e Mauritia flexuosa se destacam por serem fonte de recursos biológicos com potencial bioeconômico, e apresentam um extenso número de publicações, no que se refere as atividades químicas dos frutos. O United States Patent and Trademark Office apresenta o maior número de depósitos de patentes para a espécie Euterpe oleracea. Nesta constata-se que o Brasil lidera como principal país depositante, devido à alta riqueza dessas espécies. Dentre os depósitos de patentes pesquisados, foram classificados principalmente pelo código A61K, o qual é relacionado à obtenção de comprimidos contendo extrato etanólico (padronizado) dos frutos de Euterpe oleracea e sua aplicação como antioxidante. Diante da presente análise, este estudo possibilitou apresentar uma visão geral das potencialidades tecnológicas e científicas das espécies de palmeiras. O estudo revela de forma significativa o potencial das palmeiras para atender as necessidades humanas na área de alimentação e saúde, e estas podem ser exploradas de uma forma ainda mais significativa pela indústria, com perspectiva para geração de novas tecnologias.

Strategic Citation: A Reassessment

The United States patent system is unique in that it requires applicants to cite documents they know to be relevant to the examination of their patent applications. Lampe (2012) presents evidence that applicants strategically withhold 21-33% of relevant citations from patent examiners, suggesting that many patents are fraudulently obtained. We challenge this view. We first show that that Lampe's empirical design is inconsistent with both legal standards and standard operating procedures, including how courts identify strategic withholding. We then compile comprehensive data to reassess the empirical basis for Lampe's main claim. We find no evidence that applicants withhold citations.

Prospecções Científica e Tecnológica Aplicadas a Queijos Caprinos

Este estudo prospectou as tecnologias de queijos caprinos, a fim de potencializar os laticínios quanto às perspectivas de inovação científica e a obtenção de propriedades intelectuais. As técnicas de prospecção foram empregadas nos bancos de patentes do Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial (INPI), do European Pantent Office (Espacenet), do United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) e do World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). As bases de periódicos definidas foram Scientific Eletronic Library Online (SciELO) e Science Direct. Observou-se que o INPI apresentou o menor número de patentes publicadas, com nenhuma concessão no Brasil e 57,14% dos pedidos de depósitos realizados por universidades/institutos federais. Desde 2011, a quantidade de publicações de artigos científicos tem aumentado no Brasil. O crescente interesse científico evidencia o destaque nas citações da Subclasse A23C, relacionando-se diretamente com a área da maioria das publicações em periódicos, fator em ascensão para o queijo caprino.

Deterrent Disclosure

We examine how product market competition affects the disclosure of innovation. Theory posits that product market competition can cause firms to increase their disclosure of innovation to deter product market competitors. Consistent with this reasoning, we find that patent applicants in more competitive industries voluntarily accelerate their patent disclosures, which are credibly disclosed via the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Our inferences are robust to using changes in industry-level import tariffs as sources of plausibly exogenous variation in product market competition in differences-in-differences designs. Consistent with patent disclosure deterring product market competitors, we find that timelier patent disclosures are more strongly associated with declines in the similarity of competitors’ products than are less timely patent disclosures. In total, our results suggest that product market competition increases patent disclosure timeliness, which is consistent with firms using the disclosure of innovation to deter product market competition.

Cancer Immunotherapy Pilot Program- extended to June 30, 2022 – Launch your patent application under the Cancer Moon Shot Program before it is too late!

Patent protection for cancer treatments is critical to safeguard the considerable time, effort and expenses involved in such endeavors. The United States Patent Office has a special program that enables cancer researchers to obtain patent protection for their inventions with unprecedented speed (less than one year!) and without any additional fees required. The Cancer Immunotherapy Pilot Program has been extended to June 30, 2022. This program has proven to be exceptionally useful in advancing the protection and commercialization of cancer treatments and should be employed by everyone in the cancer research field. Andre Gide once said, “One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.” The journey every single inventor makes through the patenting process is admittedly uncertain, with no assurances that it will result in an issued patent. But a terrific program implemented by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) makes such a journey far shorter than it would otherwise be. The “Patents 4 Patients” program, also known as the “Cancer Moon Shot” program, was introduced in 2016 and has now been extended until June 30, 2022, now entitled “Cancer Immunotherapy Pilot Program.” This program permits patent applications pertaining to cancer immunotherapy to be advanced out of turn for examination and reviewed earlier (accorded special status). It provides for the extremely prompt examination of qualifying patent applications – without any additional fees – and has resulted in the issuance of over 400 patents in the last few years – which otherwise would not have issued for years to come.

Patentierte Messtechnik

Sensory Analytics (Greensboro, North Carolina), der schnell wachsende Anbieter der hochpräzisen SpecMetrix-Schichtdickenmesssysteme, freut sich über sein neues Patent, das vom United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) erteilt wurde und die hauseigenen Produktangebote noch weitreichender schützen soll