Industrial IP

The Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) program can be an excellent way to more quickly move a patent to issue. Via PPH, participating patent offices may expedite examination of applications which have at least one claim allowed in another PPH patent office. A listing of participating PPH offices may be found here . U.S. patent applications eligible for PPH must meet the following requirements: At least one claim in a corresponding application must be allowed at an eligible* Office of Earlier Examination (OEE) The U.S. application must have the same earliest priority date as the OEE application Substantive examination of the U.S. application must not have started Should your U.S. patent application meets the PPH requirements, a PPH request form may be submitted. There are several pieces of information that are required by the U.S. Patent Office to complete a PPH request. Below are a few tips and tricks to help make the process of filing a U.S. PPH request go smoothly: 1. Not...

Autonomous vehicle technology has the potential to profoundly alter transportation as we know it.  Aside from a fundamental sea change in the public’s perception of transportation in general, autonomous vehicle technology has the potential to alter the makeup of roadways by enabling an easing of traffic congestion due to vehicles being able to travel more efficiently and closer together, to promote safer car travel, and to potentially reduce carbon emissions if combined, for example, with electric technology. In an industry with so much potential, there are of course innumerable opportunities for development of intellectual property portfolios related to autonomous vehicles.  The focus of today’s post is to emphasize that in such an industry with so much potential, it is important to think outside the box in search of new ideas and strategies.  As an example, consider a recent patent (US 9340178 B1) granted to Google, which aims to reduce “secondary impact” in a situatio...

As technologies progress and change, so should your approach to developing and managing your IP portfolio.  Years ago, it used to be sufficient to secure one or two patents on a new product.  These days, more and more companies are looking to expand developed concepts across many platforms in order to secure robust and broad IP portfolios.  As one example, reported in SAE , Case Construction Equipment recently filed thirty (30) patent applications on a compact dozer loader.  The compact dozer loader represents a cross-over between features of a compact track loader (CTL) and features of a bulldozer, and is configured to run all of the attachments that one might use for skid steers and CTLs, thus reducing the need for contractors or other users to own multiple pieces of equipment.  The patent applications are directed to many concepts, from the frame to the CTL-dozer cross-over controls. To develop a broad IP portfolio in heavy industry, consider how products ...