Juristat constantly strives to enhance our platform to provide you with the most powerful and efficient patent analytics and workflow automation tools. 

Just because it is the way you’ve always done it, doesn’t mean that should be the way you do it. Your manual office action response workflow has been in place for years. You know what to expect, and so does your team. But being entrenched in a process doesn’t necessarily mean it is working. Your patent practice might be overdue for a change, you just don’t realize it.

You know you need to leverage your staff for more strategic tasks, but how can you tell if workflow automation is the answer? It doesn’t have to be guesswork.

In the world of IP law, efficiency is key. As patent practitioners know all too well, manually managing the flow of information disclosure statements can be a cumbersome and time-consuming process. 

All IP firms want to be able to clearly and effectively show the positive impact of their work on their client’s patent portfolios.  

Juristat constantly strives to enhance our platform to provide you with the most powerful and efficient patent analytics and workflow automation tools. To that end, we’re excited to announce new enhancements and features available only from Juristat.

Juristat, the St. Louis-based startup that helps patent lawyers improve strategic decision-making and automate workflows, is excited to announce a game-changing investment partnership with MBM Capital, launching the company into a new phase of growth.

Starting the year off on the right foot is crucial for patent attorneys to ensure efficiency, productivity, and success in their practice. 

The new year brings new technologies, advancements, insights, and opportunities to the world of patent prosecution.

How does using data in patent prosecutions generate more revenue and better prosecution outcomes? Patent analytics can be a game changer for your strategy, but you’ve got to know how to use them.

Let’s look back at the topics that most interested you in the past year. 

Evaluating outside counsel is a crucial task for in-house patent teams seeking a valuable legal partner. While it may be easy to simply pick the biggest name firm, or choose based on word-of-mouth, that might not always be the best fit for your business. 

2023 was a relatively quiet year in the patent world. Nevertheless, there were a few major developments, including a Supreme Court decision that directly affects patent applicants and several pieces of proposed legislation that would make significant changes to patent law. 

Competition is a vital component of doing business, especially for patent teams. Competition forces you to innovate, finding creative solutions to protect and grow every patent portfolio on your books.

The COVID-19 pandemic launched a healthcare innovation race without parallel in recent history. Recognizing the need for swift action, companies large and small across the healthcare industry jumped into action to do their part to develop diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines for COVID-19. Now that roughly two years have passed since the peak of the pandemic, we have a fuller body of COVID-19-related patenting data from the USPTO and patent offices around the world. While several studies have analyzed COVID-19-related patents — notably, the WIPO 2022 study of COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics — none have focused specifically on COVID-19 diagnostics patents. 

Will an interview lead to an allowance? Should you appeal? Is it time to abandon? How long is too long between filing and the first office action? As an experienced patent professional, you know that predicting examiner behavior is key to finding the shortest path to an allowance, but without the right data, you’re just guessing.

With the right data, IP practitioners can make nuanced and strategic decisions to aid their patent prosecution process.

Patent analytics drive better prosecution outcomes – including less time to allowance, improved client relationships, and, crucially, increased profitability.

Burnout can lead to an increased risk of error, lower productivity, and increased employee turnover.

Earlier this year, the United States Patent and Trademark Office announced in a Federal Register notice that it is extending its Collaborative Search Pilot program through October 31, 2024.

Administrative tasks are burying you and your firm. The right legal technology can help dig you out.

Having insight into which examiners issue the most OAs can help you decide whether an application is worth pursuing, therefore providing you and your client with the information needed to persist confidently.

From new USPTO offices to landmark Supreme Court patent cases to patent eligibility reform legislation, 2023 has shaped up so far as a busy year for the patent world.

In April 2023, the USPTO announced proposed reforms concerning the PTAB’s discretion to deny petitions for IPR and PGR. The proposed rule would clarify and broaden the PTAB’s discretionary powers.

As a patent professional, you may feel at the mercy of the USPTO, especially at the end of  the quarter or fiscal year, also known as their incredibly busy season. As you’re facing an influx of office actions or are still buried in an especially complicated IDS, you may be looking for ways to simplify your day and streamline your processes. 

As a seasoned patent professional, you are confident in your strategy. But more and more often, your clients are demanding proof of your data-driven decision-making.  

If you took your holiday weekend in an off-grid cabin, you may be unaware that Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta launched a new app last week, much to Elon Musk’s ire. If your phone is an extension of your body like the rest of us, how are you liking Threads?

In June, the USPTO issued its 2022-2026 Strategic Plan. The plan outlines five major mission-focused strategic goals they hope to accomplish within the next three years.

As a seasoned patent professional, it is likely that most of your work falls into a specific technology center, meaning you probably find yourself in front of the same examiners time and again. 

Juristat has been recognized by Comparably for having one of the best leadership teams.

Whether you’re growing your patent practice or strengthening relationships with existing clients, a well-timed and informative email can not only provide value but give you a valuable opportunity to further develop your business. 

If you find yourself in front of an examiner with a high allowance rate, first, breathe a sigh of relief. Then, consider the next steps in your prosecution strategy. 

When responding to office actions or generating IDSs, you know your current process is not working. Is bringing on a new legal tech vendor worth the switching costs?

Juristat has been recognized as one of the top places for women to work by the Women’s Foundation of Greater St. Louis through their sixth annual Women in the Workplace: Employment Scorecard initiative.

When it comes to patent prosecution, knowing your examiner’s allowance rate can give you a great insight into the road that lies ahead. 

Time to dive deeper into key trends behind this year’s rankings.

Your patent portfolio is your future, and you want to make sure it is in the best hands possible, legally speaking.

The USPTO first announced in August 2020 that it would be imposing a new fee for patent applications not filed in DOCX format beginning on January 1, 2022. After multiple extensions,  the USPTO announced that the deadline is now June 30, 2023.  

To run a successful practice, it is a good idea to revisit your firm’s marketing plan throughout the year to strengthen your business development strategy.

As we hit the ground running in 2023, you may be looking for ways to connect with your fellow patent professionals, get up to speed on the latest developments in legal tech, and be inspired by new solutions to your daily challenges.

When it comes to PTAB proceedings, which CPC classes are the most common?

When it comes to PTAB proceedings, who are the most experienced experts? And who are the most expensive?

The world’s largest and most influential tech event has now concluded in Las Vegas. After going all-virtual in 2021 and suffering reduced attendance in 2022, the Consumer Electronics Show roared back to its pre-COVID splendor in 2023.

Juristat is always working to improve access and transparency. Recently, we've made it even easier for patent professionals to visualize key data, stay up to date on filings, and produce error-free work.

Juristat’s normalized allowance rate factors in both average examiner allowance rate and the USPTO average allowance rate to provide a more specific metric to evaluate your patent prosecution strategy.

The USPTO recently published a final rule announcing that it would encourage the transition to filing in DOCX format by imposing new fees on certain documents submitted in a non-DOCX format. The new rule takes effect on April 3, 2023.*

2022 was an exciting year for Juristat. We launched new products like PTAB Expert Search, expanded our industry-leading analytics with 102 Forward Cite Reports, and improved our cutting-edge workflow automation tools to include Juristat OAR with Detailed Figure Annotations.

2022 was a year of change at the USPTO, while familiar trends once again dominated in the legislature and the judiciary. Below are a few of the most important patent developments of the year.

If you knew your assigned USPTO examiner was going to procrastinate on your application, how would it impact your prosecution strategy?

Much like the holly and tinsel hitting store shelves before the jack-o-lanterns are even gone, you can set your watch by an influx of office actions coinciding with the end of the USPTO’s fiscal year in September.

By strategically leveraging 102 Forward Cite Reports, you can increase your value by acting as an advisor, not just an attorney. 

The Mayo/Myriad standard arguably introduced a great deal of uncertainty into the feasibility of obtaining patent protection for life sciences innovations and has been accused of curtailing the competitiveness of U.S.-based life sciences companies in the global marketplace.

If your work as a patent professional primarily falls under the header of mechanical or electrical engineering, you know, maybe more than most, that annotating figure drawings takes up valuable time and mental bandwidth.

The heat of summer is behind us, and the warmth of the holidays is just ahead. Thanks to some innovative minds, here are a few inventions to make the season a little easier, or at least, easier to bear.

When it comes to PTAB proceedings, who are the major players? Which firms and attorneys are handling the lion’s share of the cases – and who is making waves?

It may be more polite to say we’re operating in “uncertain times,” and boy, are they. But the not-so-polite reality is, we’re in a recession. 

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has announced a new pilot program designed to put the U.S. patent system to work in the fight against climate change.

When it comes to PTAB proceedings, who are the major players? Which companies are filing the most – and which appear to be ramping up their litigation?

We are entering a time of year where, as a prosecution manager, paralegal, assistant, or another member of the support staff, you're probably facing a packed calendar and your to-do list is anything but to-done.

Maybe you were taken in by an ad for workflow automation that could help your overworked support staff, maybe you hit the search bar looking for a way to reduce your IDS workload, or maybe you were tired of the other firms standing out to corporate clients with their use of data analytics.

Whatever the reason, you need to know that investing in legal tech is going to be worth the cost to your firm. So you negotiated a free trial, and you’ve got seven or 14, or 30 days to make sure this product will fulfill your needs.

A new study from the Centre for Economic Policy Research tracks the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects on international patent filings and comes up with some surprising results. 

When it comes to office actions and your patent prosecution strategy, less is definitely more. Less time, less work, more profit, and more satisfied clients. Based on Juristat’s recent ranking though, some USPTO examiners might be thinking more is more. 

Knowing which examiners issue the most OAs per application on average can help you find the most efficient path to approval for your client.

The end of the USPTO's fiscal year is approaching, and it's historically been the busiest time of year for office actions — meaning you're about to get flooded with work.

Automation can relieve stress and reduce tedious IDS workloads, but letting go of ingrained processes can be intimidating.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office announced its technology partnership in WIPO GREEN, the international green technology platform of the World Intellectual Property Organization. 

In 2016, the USPTO launched the Patents 4 Patients program to support the $1 billion National Cancer Moonshot initiative. In September of this year, the USPTO announced that the pilot program would be extended through January 31, 2023.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the World Intellectual Property Association (WIPO) have announced a partnership to facilitate the resolution of disputes related to standard essential patents (SEPs).

Finding an IP firm with experience claiming foreign priority is critical for companies based in or working in foreign markets. Here, we rank the top firms for foreign priority applications, based on volume.

Juristat continues to build products that speed up and simplify your patent prosecution.

During prosecution, small mistakes can turn into costly delays. A recent analysis of office action responses found that nearly 12% contain errors made by attorneys.

Preparing information disclosure statements is a headache for most IP teams, but it doesn’t have to be. Automating your IDS process speeds up your workflow, ensures information integrity, and protects your most valuable support staff from burnout.

Whether your firm is actively prospecting new business or hoping to strengthen relationships with current clients, patent analytics is a necessary addition to your business development plans.

IP firms are taking some time to reflect on the current state of their profit margins. Our conversations with clients have made it clear: business development is a top priority.

We are nearing the halfway point of 2022, with a new director at the USPTO, another opportunity to clarify the §101 patent eligibility framework, and a pair of bills poised to innovate the semiconductor industry. Here’s what you need to know about the year in patents so far.

In an increasingly turbulent business environment, IP firms need to take stock of what they can control, fortify, and improve. Now is the time to strengthen current processes with workflow automation and broaden your client base through competitive intelligence.

Finding the right expert witness in PTAB proceedings is crucial to success, but IP attorneys often have to rely on expensive recruiters to find these experts. Now, you can avoid unnecessary recruiter fees and identify the perfect expert independently with PTAB Expert Search.

Juristat is moving beyond patent prosecution strategy, creating products and features that simplify patent litigation and workflow automation. See what’s new, including our powerful PTAB Expert Search, comprehensive office action response tracking, and improved printing capabilities.

On April 13, 2022, Kathi Vidal was sworn in as the 59th Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

Patent professionals from some of our Top Patent Firms share their stories of success and speak on the challenges they see in the industry.

Today, Juristat is pleased to celebrate World Intellectual Property Day with IP stakeholders all around the world.

To craft an unbeatable prosecution strategy, patent attorneys should rely on the multi-dimensional analysis of an examiner’s data, rather than just summary metrics.

With so many legal tech vendors vying for your attention, it’s crucial that you ask the right questions to discover the appropriate tool for you, your team, and your specific processes.

There are two types of patent petitions: petitions that are so routine you can do them in your sleep and those so rare you don’t even know where to start. Here are the most and least common petitions filed at the USPTO.

Petitions are an unavoidable part of patent prosecution, and IP professionals are looking for ways to file petitions quickly without sacrificing quality. Access to comprehensive petition searching can help you do just that.

More than 33 million Americans have quit their jobs since the spring of last year. With over 40% of workers considering taking part in this “Great Resignation,” how can IP departments ensure a happy, invested group of employees?

Petitions aren’t necessary for every prosecution, but when these complex situations do arise, Juristat provides the background and data you need to proceed with confidence.

Design patents are a crucial component of IP strategy, and just as with utility patents, require a firm with dedicated expertise. Here, we name the top firms in design, based on filing volume, allowance rate, and average office actions to allowance.

COVID may have affected in-person attendance at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES), but it didn't diminish the innovation on display. CES still reflects the future of consumer culture and technology.

Time to dive deeper into some of the key trends behind this year’s Top Firms rankings.

The USPTO’s Patent Pro Bono Program, established in 2011 as a component of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, connects small business owners and inventors with pro bono representation to ease the burden of expensive and time-consuming patent prosecution.

How can you improve your patent practice? What changes can you make that will have the greatest impact on your current business strategy? The answer can likely be found with AI-powered legal tech. 

The year was defined by an ongoing pandemic, the inauguration of a new president, and a generally shaky economy. Fortunately, the IP industry has continued to grow and adjust and prepare for a future that is hard to predict.

2021 was notably quieter than the tumultuous 2020, but the patent world nevertheless continues to evolve. Here are a few of the most important developments of the year.

To keep up with all the innovative thinkers who use Juristat, we are excited to share some new updates to our tools.

Legal technology is changing rapidly, and keeping up with all the new tools out there can feel overwhelming. But implementing these tips now can make organizational change a foundational element of your firm’s growth.

When faced with prosecution in front of the USPTO’s most difficult examiners, these firms excelled and came away with an allowance.

President Biden recently announced Kathi Vidal as his long-awaited nominee for Under Secretary for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO. If confirmed by the Senate, she would be the second woman to hold the position.

Intellectual property is the foundation for building a significant competitive advantage for businesses of any size. Companies need to keep a constant eye out for new competitors and advantageous legal partnerships to stay ahead.

Firms with a solid grasp on landscape analysis and competitive intelligence become indispensable to their clients and difficult to beat when vying for new business.

Patent attorneys run into the same examiners from time to time, but what happens when that particular examiner happens to be one of the most difficult at the USPTO?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the most exciting technologies of the last century, offering a once-in-a-generation opportunity to radically transform the way we live and work. And the USPTO has taken a keen interest.

The USPTO has an official term for examiner procrastination – end-loading. When examiners put off work until the end of the quarter, it can have a dramatic impact on both workloads for the law firm, as well as chances of success for the patent application.

With law office automation and technology, you’re not taking away the human element of your practice. Instead, you’re spending less time on menial, time-intensive tasks and more time in areas that require your personal expertise and finesse.

The Full First Action Interview Pilot Program (FAIPP) was created due to concerns over interview effectiveness. Now discontinued, the program was one of many USPTO attempts to open communication between examiners and patent practitioners. Did the program succeed?

Understanding seasonality around USPTO office actions can help drive decisions related to firm hiring, training, and process workflows. And our data shows that you are about to get very busy.

Innovation is key to a business's competitive advantage, and the USPTO created the Prioritized Patent Examination Program (known simply as Track One) to move ideas quickly. Patent applications in the program are expected to reach disposition within twelve months.

There are many ways to evaluate the value of your outside counsel, whether using general success metrics or quality indicators like timeliness and ease of communication. But perhaps the most valuable indicator may be the average cost of an issued patent prosecuted by the firm.

It may be hard to believe, but the first half of 2021 is now behind us, and there is reason to believe things are looking up. The effects of the pandemic have eased considerably, the labor market recovery is accelerating, and, in many states and cities, life is starting to look normal again.

Companies of all sizes want to make sure that the patents in their portfolio are worth the maintenance fees they spend to maintain ownership. Modeling maintenance fee spend can help you identify ineffective patents that you can offload to ensure proper investment in more important initiatives.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently announced plans to hire hundreds of patent examiners in the coming months. The new positions will be in the biomedical, computer, electrical, and mechanical engineering technology sectors.

Technology Center 2900 is a bit of an outlier at the USPTO, handling design patents rather than utility patents. Design patents are a different breed than utility patents, covering the visual and ornamental characteristics of an article rather than the article’s functional or utilitarian elements.

The USPTO recently issued the 2020 Citizen Centric Report. The report is a companion to its 2020 Performance and Accountability Report, and it compares the agency’s performance to previous years while providing essential facts and figures. How did the USPTO generally do in 2020?

No matter your ultimate patent goals, modeling prosecution spend on pending cases can help you identify outlier applications and avoid lengthy, costly prosecution.

Technology Center 3600 is perhaps the most infamous of all technology centers at the USPTO. As a “catch-all” technology center handling applications as diverse as surface transportation and furniture, it also houses many business methods art units.

The USPTO recently announced a companion to the COVID-19 Prioritized Examination Pilot Program, the COVID Fast-Track Appeals Pilot Program. The goal is to expedite the processing of ex-parte appeals for applications related to COVID-19.

The USPTO has an official term for examiner procrastination - end-loading. An interesting metric to be sure, but how can you use examiner procrastination to your advantage in patent prosecution?

Whether you are a part of a corporate IP team or at a law firm, creating a standardized, data-driven approach to analyze prosecution performance is imperative to your success.

An ideal patent prosecution is quick, cost-efficient, and ultimately successful. The more office actions an application receives, the longer, more expensive, and less viable an application becomes.

The age of big data is here to stay, and there is so much information out there to access, sift through, and organize to accomplish our goals. As a company evaluating your legal partnerships, how do you know which metrics provide the most insight?

We are 100 days into President Joe Biden’s term, and he has given little indication as to the kinds of IP policies his administration plans to pursue. However, his Proclamation on World Intellectual Property Day has a few hints.

How do interviews impact your chance at an allowance? Our analysis found that 92% of examiners are more likely to allow an application when an interview is part of the prosecution.

To find success, law firms need to live in a constant state of self-assessment. The world of patent prosecution is always changing, and IP attorneys need to re-evaluate ineffective and slow routines to stay competitive.

For years, Alice has been a source of frustration for many patent practitioners. New guidance released by the USPTO in 2019 promised to provide some consistency. It’s now been two years — has anything changed?

Each year, the USPTO releases a Performance and Accountability Report that analyzes the agency’s performance and evaluates how well it met the goals of its five-year Strategic Plan. Here are the key takeaways from the 2020 report.

After a tumultuous 2020, many IP firms are refocusing their efforts on growth in 2021. Here, we share advice from patent leaders at Slater Matsil, Procopio, and Quarles & Brady.

Technology Center 2600 handles communications-related technologies. This includes telephonic communications, speech processing, digital and optical communications, and computer graphic processing.

Patent professionals who specialize in a specific type of technology may run into the same examiners from time to time. If that examiner is one of the most difficult in the technology center, knowledge of past performance may be the difference between an allowance and an abandonment.

We continue our annual tradition of identifying the 10 USPTO examiners with the most skeptical eye toward the patent applications that cross their desks.

With our new attorney metrics, firms and in-house counsel can better monitor the performance of individual patent professionals.

Technology Center 2100 handles computer architecture and software, with art unit groups focused on computer reliability and control systems, memory access, computer architecture, databases and file management, software development, artificial intelligence (AI), and graphical user interfaces.

In a saturated market, law firms are looking for ways to stand out and deliver the best legal services to their corporate clients. If you are looking to provide quality patent prosecution that ensures long-standing relationships, your firm needs to invest in data analytics.

On January 19, United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director Andrei Iancu announced his resignation from the agency. In his time as director, he focused on bureaucratic efficiency and clarifying patent eligibility guidelines.

Technology Center 1700 handles chemical and materials engineering, including batteries and fuel cells, metallurgy, adhesives, biochemistry, inorganic chemistry, glass and paper making, and food.

As we begin a new year, we predict how corporate leaders in IP will manage patent prosecution, keep an eye on their outside counsel, and avoid excessive spending.

Data visualization is all about telling a story with data, recognizing trends and patterns that can help you in your decision making. But you don’t want to lose time struggling to uncover the meaning in all the charts and graphs.

As of Wednesday, January 20, we have a new president, one who has never been known as a primary voice in IP policy. We gathered up a few assessments of Joe Biden and his approach to intellectual property to see where he stands on the issues.

With 2020, seemingly the longest of years, finally behind us, let’s look back at a few of the most important patent-related developments of last year to best prepare for 2021.

2020 is not exactly what we expected, was it? Business has felt anything but usual. Now, at the end of the year, we have time to reflect, consider new best practices and areas of improvement, and keep our fingers crossed that 2021 will be at least a tiny bit less surprising.

Technology Center 3700 is somewhat of a “catch-all” technology center, handling technologies as diverse as medical instruments, shoes and apparel, machine and hand tools, thermal and combustion technology, and refrigeration.

In 2019, the USPTO released a report surveying the participation of female inventor-patentees in the U.S. patent system. The main discovery: women are still underrepresented in the patent system, but their participation rate is slowly improving.

Inspired by our recent ranking of the top growing patent firms, we set out to find the top 25 emerging patent firms of the last decade. 

Due to the success of Track One, the USPTO has created the Fast-Track Appeals Pilot Program to carry the benefits of prioritized examination through to appeals.

The eligibility requirements for the Program are fairly straightforward. To qualify for fast-track status, the following four conditions must be met: 

To succeed in any industry, a certain amount of foresight and planning is key. For patent attorneys, identifying and taking action on high-cost prosecution can lessen the usual timeline and save money in the long term.

Technology Center 1600 is the home for life science patent applications at the USPTO. This includes applications related to organic compounds, organic chemistry, molecular biology, immunology, fermentation, and plants.

If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that in order for a firm to succeed, it must be able to withstand whatever storms come its way and come out even stronger. Here, we recognize the patent firms that have done just that – the firms that have grown the most in the last decade.

Patent prosecution can be frustratingly complicated, and the USPTO has created special programs to reign in the usual chaos. Knowing these programs, their purpose, and their success rate can hugely benefit your patent practice.

Technology Center 2400 handles data processing and telecommunications technologies, including multiplex and VoIP, cable and television, recording and compression, cryptography and security, and computer networks.

This past year, we’ve seen our industry innovate and adapt like never before. Time and time again, we talk to clients and colleagues who are discovering innovative ways to streamline budgets without sacrificing quality patent work. Our latest updates are designed to help you in these endeavors – adding greater speed and insight to our already easy-to-use analytics platform. Here is a quick summary of our exciting new features:

As we near the end of a tumultuous year, IP managers and patent attorneys are more conscious than ever of their bottom line.

In our analysis, we found that the First Action Interview Pilot Program (FAIPP) may not result in a faster prosecution, but it is effective in reaching an allowance with fewer office actions.

Technology Center 2800 handles a wide range of electrical technologies, including semiconductors, circuits, optics, and printing.

We are in the middle of a professional paradigm shift - adapting to the new normal of a fully or partially remote workforce. This could be the motivation the patent industry needs to fully lean into the possibilities of legal technology.

Patent prosecution is expensive and complex. And often, each individual practitioner has their own unique approach to reach that all-important NOA. But inconsistent practices and reliance solely on past experience can lead to inflated costs.

Much has been made about the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. While it is clear that the pandemic and its associated lockdowns have resulted in a sharp economic contraction, it is unclear what effect—if any—it will have on the USPTO in terms of patent filing and other patent prosecution-related activity.

With so much going on in the world during the first half of 2020 — a global pandemic, an economic recession, and widespread protest movements — developments in the intellectual property sphere have largely flown under the radar. But that does not mean 2020 has been bereft of patent news.

In early June, AstraZeneca approached rival drugmaker Gilead Sciences to discuss a potential merger. Though some doubt the feasibility of such a deal, this would be the biggest healthcare merger on record.

To maintain successful business partnerships, law firms need to regularly assess new ways to benefit their IP clients. By putting in the effort to expand client relationships, firms can better demonstrate the value of their ongoing service.

On this year’s World IP Day, WIPO Director General Francis Gurry called for a surge in green tech patenting to fight climate change. His charge follows a report that patenting for green energy technologies has slowed.

As legal tech revolutionizes the industry, offering new avenues for speed, accuracy, and quality assurance in legal work, often, one roadblock remains - the budget-minded CFO.

Procrastination. We all do it. In-house counsel do it, OCs do it, and USPTO examiners do it. In fact, some examiners procrastinate a lot.

Now is not the time to be idle. There are plenty of steps in-house IP departments can take now to ensure team productivity, strategic budgeting, and a strong patent portfolio.

The USPTO has announced that, in accordance with the CARES Act, it is further extending the deadlines to file certain patent-related documents or fees to June 1, 2020.

With budgets tightening and department priorities shifting, now is the time for companies to evaluate outside legal counsel.

Following industry news these days, it’s hard to avoid theories that the economic instability created by COVID-19 will be the death of patent prosecution.

Prompted by the CARES Act, the USPTO announced extensions to the time allowed to file certain patent-related documents and to pay certain required fees. Legal teams can use patent analytics tools like Juristat to quickly identify which applications qualify.

As businesses feel the lingering stress from the COVID-19 pandemic, some are considering bringing patent prosecution in-house in order to cut costs. With clients continuing to mind their budgets, how can firms demonstrate the cost savings and ROI they bring to the table?

Even during these uncertain times, the USPTO maintains that operations will continue without interruption. That means while you are busy adopting new remote work processes and ensuring your team is healthy, office actions are still being issued. 

Biopharmaceutical companies AbbVie Inc. and Allergan recently announced that they signed a consent decree with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission that will commit the companies to sell some properties if they commence a planned merger.

Contemplating an interview at the USPTO? Our analysis found that nearly 95% of examiners are more likely to allow an application when an interview is part of the prosecution.

Driven by market demand for efficiencies and cost savings, law firms and IP departments are looking to implement more legal technology into their workflow. But after all the work you put into choosing the right tool, how do you get attorneys and staff members to adopt?

Big business is all about data. We see it in almost every industry, from healthcare to financial services to aviation and beyond. But the legal industry has been slow to adapt.

We’re all familiar with Newton’s third law of physics: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Well, at the USPTO, every office action means additional work for the prosecuting attorney, and thus, additional costs.

Executives at T-Mobile may be weighing a potential merger with Comcast, the largest U.S. cable provider. 

In 2019, the USPTO issued revised § 101 guidance, while the Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Intellectual Property held a series of high-profile hearings on a legislative proposal to abrogate Alice. Several patent-related bills were also introduced in Congress, including the STRONGER Patents Act and the Inventor Rights Act.

As we continue to monitor those developments, we now turn our attention to the future to speculate as to what the new year might hold for the patent world. 

As the “Global Stage for Innovation,” the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is the world's gathering place for all those who thrive on the business of consumer technologies. 

2020 is officially here! In order to best prepare for the new year in patent policy, let's take a look at some top stories from 2019 with a lasting impact.

It’s the end of the year, and we at Juristat have a lot to celebrate! Along with growing our team and moving into a new office space, we launched new workflow automation solutions that generate office action responses and information disclosure statements using AI. And in the coming year, we’re rolling out a major update to our analytics product, giving clients improved access to comparison metrics, business intelligence, and custom reports for every tech center, art unit, USPC, or CPC class, and more.

Receiving a rejection for a patent application is no one’s idea of a good time. After spending hours on hours shaping a patent application that is focused, novel, and specific, you are told to reconsider your hard work and have another go at it.

Patents for Humanity is the USPTO awards competition recognizing inventors and innovators who develop game-changing technology to meet global humanitarian challenges. With the application deadline quickly approaching, we take a look at some of the past award recipients and celebrate their impact on society today.

Juristat will no longer offer access to our free application alerts to clients that do not have private PAIR integration with Juristat.

Did you notice a spike in office actions in late September? We sure did.

While the calendar year may be winding down, your team is likely busier than ever preparing office action responses. In fact, we’re just on the other side of a major spike in office actions from the USPTO, coinciding with the end of their fiscal year on September 30.

Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot owner PSA Group recently announced the terms of a $48 billion merger that would create the world's fourth-largest automaker. A primary reason for the merger is to share the cost of developing electric and autonomous vehicles.

With concern growing about the United States’ ability to remain the dominant force in the global innovation economy, the STRONGER Patents Act is intended to restore and strengthen the U.S. patent system by making it easier for patent owners to enforce their intellectual property rights.

The next big technology shakeup is on its way. With a limited rollout in 2018 leading to a much more comprehensive release in 2020, 5G is here, with increased speeds, instantaneous communication, and the ability to connect just about everything.

We recently identified the ten most difficult examiners currently reviewing applications at the USPTO. Our research prompted the question: “Which firms and companies have prosecuted the most applications in front of these difficult examiners?”

In an update to our 2016, 2017, and 2018 lists of most difficult examiners at the USPTO, we have identified the 10 patent examiners (excluding SPEs) with the most skeptical eye toward the patent applications that cross their desks.

The USPTO has announced its intention to extend the After Final Consideration Pilot (AFCP) 2.0 program through September 30, 2020. The program had been set to expire on September 30, 2019.

For patent applicants looking to move quickly, the USPTO's Track One program is a seemingly obvious choice. But does the program, which was instituted in 2011, still work? The answer is yes – but not like it used to.

We often use allowance rate as a quick and simple way to quantify success at the USPTO -- and we know law firms use it too. However, that is just one of many indicators in-house counsel can use to evaluate firm performance. 

In the world of patent applications, timing is key. When your firm receives an office action, a quick and thorough response helps ensure smooth communication with your examiner and calms your anxious client.

Pfizer and Mylan, the maker of EpiPens, are merging. Pfizer will offload Upjohn, its portfolio of drugs that are no longer protected by patents, including Viagra, Lipitor and Celebrex, combining with rival Mylan to create a new company that will have a new, yet-to-be-announced name.

The USPTO recently hosted a webinar about the general approach to interpreting claims and how the specification interacts with and modifies those claims. With the goal of providing answers to common examiner questions, the webinar specifically discussed the importance of the broadest reasonable interpretation (BRI) of each claim, how to handle claim limitations, and the added difficulty of limitations related to 35 USC 112(f) (aka “Means-or-Step-Plus-Function” Limitations). The hope is to create consistent examination guidance that ensures all claims will be interpreted similarly by anyone of ordinary skill in the art. 

United Technologies, an American multinational conglomerate, recently agreed to combine its aerospace business with military contractor Raytheon, creating a new manufacturing giant in the aerospace and defense sectors. Under the new name of Raytheon Technologies, the merged company would have about $74 billion in expected sales for 2019. 

When looking for outside counsel, companies are likely hearing similar pitches from all law firms. Business intelligence can be a powerful differentiator, a tool that helps law firms identify areas of strength and discover new pathways to success. It can lead to more focused marketing efforts and a general uptick in client buy-in.

If the first six months of 2019 are any indication, this year will be a year of reform. 

In June, we marked the fifth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International, 573 U.S. 208 (2014). Far from being settled law, questions of subject matter eligibility have dominated the conversation about patents in the courts, Congress, and the USPTO during the first half of the year. The continued controversy surrounding the Alice case half a decade after it was decided vividly demonstrates its unpopularity and underscores the broad consensus that the time for reform is now.

Elsewhere, the Supreme Court also issued two decisions focusing on provisions of the America Invents Act (AIA), while theft of IP assets by Chinese firms continues to plague U.S. businesses..

In 2013, the USPTO enacted the After Final Consideration Pilot (AFCP) 2.0 program as an alternative response to a final rejection. The goal of the program was to increase communication between examiners and applicants and take those applications that are close to allowance across the finish line, without requiring the time and cost inevitably associated with an RCE.

Over the last two weeks, patent practitioners, former judges, consultants, and law professors have testified in front of the Senate on the subject of patent eligibility law. Here's a recap of the hearings: 

Thanks to Juristat examiner analytics, patent practitioners can now leverage data to shape prosecution strategy based on the decision history of an assigned examiner.

Here are  three essential (and often overlooked) examiner analytics that can lead to a more strategic prosecution.

Sprint and T-Mobile recently announced that they had reached a deal to merge, promising to “be a force for positive change in the U.S. wireless, video, and broadband industries.” Combining the country’s third and fourth largest mobile service providers would be one of the most significant consolidations in the American wireless market in years.

We’ve all been there. Prosecution is taking longer than expected. You’re facing one rejection after another. And your client is starting to question whether this patent is worth pursuing.

This precarious position is where Jonathan Miller of Nicholson De Vos Webster & Elliott LLP found himself during a recent prosecution.

Thanks to Juristat patent analytics, practitioners can now leverage data to make strategic decisions throughout the patent prosecution process.

Watch our latest video to learn how firms and in-house teams can shape strategy with big data during all parts of the prosecution process.