Industrial IP

If you prosecute patent applications long enough, you are bound to receive a restriction requirement. Restriction requirements have become quite common, with the overall restriction rate estimated to be a little more than 50%. Restriction requirements can create headaches for applicants by limiting the ability to amend claims during prosecution. Applicants should also beware that other strings are attached to restriction requirements. For example, in the case of a species restriction: “If claims are added after the election, applicant must indicate which of these claims are readable on the elected species or grouping of patentably indistinct species.” (MPEP 809.02(a)) That is, for the remainder of prosecution after a species has been elected, any added claims need an extra statement to indicate their species. An extra statement may seem small in the scheme of everything, but forgetting this little indication could give the Examiner an avenue to stall the application.   ...

Food processing technology is an active area for patent filings. Even the fundamental concepts of a new restaurant can be the subject of patent protection. Today we tell the story of one such patent as gleaned from publicly available documents and other on-line resources. The story of US Patent 10,528,915 (Sanadidi, et al.) issued January 7, 2020 is that of a father and son inventor team who start their own restaurant ( Bella Pita ) in the LA area (there are two locations). M. Y. Sanadidi and his son Ezedin co-invented the idea for the new Mediterranean-style restaurant, which they opened in 2007. As M. Y. explained, they wanted to do something different: “… we [] resolved to determine whether there was any innovation that we could bring to the field of Mediterranean-style restaurants that would make us stand out from the many other restaurants of this type.” It turns out M.Y. was a professor of computer science at UCLA and an inventor on several patents related to com...

In developing a patent filing strategy, it can be prudent to utilize prior art searches to ensure that there is strategic value in the potential scope of coverage sufficient to warrant the investment in preparing and filing a new patent application. However, sometimes inventors can too easily dismiss prior art references by focusing on the details of the reference. A patent examiner can and will cite references for just a portion of what is disclosed, sometimes perhaps only using a drawing that happens to show a features that has nothing to do with the invention claimed in the patent document itself. In other words, while an inventor may dismiss the prior art document because it focuses/claims some specific features that is quite different from what the inventor considers to be their invention, patent examiners look at a reference for all that it discloses and do not dismiss a reference because of its focus/claims. In this way, as noted above, eve a patent drawing (without labels...

Patents are a critical element of a company’s business strategy and can operate as insurance to protect investment in new product development. One strategy is to have engineers and scientists working in the company submit invention disclosure when they believe a new invention has been made. While this is a standard practice, it may not always drive strategic patent filings specifically tied to the business investment in new products. An additional strategy that may be used is to drive patent filings more from the business perspective that is more tied to the marketing and business strategy considering where competitive activity is expected. This approach is more appropriately terms a portfolio development approach, and can lead to higher value patents that better protect strategic business directions. As engineers and scientists tend to focus more on the scientific advancement necessary to form an invention, intellectual property specialists can assist in leading mining sessions ...

Collaborative robots (cobots) are designed to be easy to program and re-program, easily move between one facility location and another, and have a low upfront cost.  They are designed to work with, not replace humans.  At last week’s Coffee with Cobots, commercialization and partnership expert David McFeeters-Krone, in partnership with Oregon and Washington’s Manufacturers Extension Partnership programs and Bill Smart of Oregon State discussed the application of cobots to help expand the workforce and service the unmet needs created by the expected 2 million unfilled manufacturing job vacancies expected over the next ten years.  In under a minute, it was possible to program the cobots available at the meeting to execute simple tasks.  Oregon State has a charter to help local industry and is available to partner with local industries to establish a proof of concept for the use of these robots.  Do you have dangerous, dirty, dull or hard tasks at your facility? C...

We recently had the opportunity to attend the Autonomous Mobility Summit, a meeting of field experts and stakeholders hosted by Technology Association of Oregon (TAO) . The conference included representation everywhere from vehicle manufacturers to public utilities to policy stakeholders. Though seemingly eclectic, this group shared the common goal of positioning Oregon to be a leader for next-generation mobility solutions. Conferences such as these are beneficial not only for uniting entities in a mission bigger than themselves but also to figure out what their niche is in the landscape as a whole. For example, from a business standpoint, technological redundancies can be avoided and companies can get a better sense of where technology is moving. Moreover, by interfacing with others in this way, companies have the ability to anticipate where they will fit into that technological landscape in the future and coordinate their IP appropriately. In this way, companies not only get ...

I recently had the privilege of attending an educational workshop as part of the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN) Angel Food Conference and Education Series 2019 . The workshop centered on the topic of scaling up businesses in the food and beverage sector. Being a food science graduate and getting to work in food and beverage related patents, I was excited to learn about challenges for food and beverage businesses as they begin to grow. Discussion ranged from production to distribution to financing. No matter the topic, however, one of the central themes was finding partners that are the right fit for the various growth stages of your business. These partners come in many forms, such as mentors, employees, co-packers, distributors, and financial institutions. And these partners can further include intellectual property (IP) counsel. Finding IP counsel that understands your business and how to serve your business as it grows is an invaluable asset. The right IP partners can hel...