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

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?

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. 

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.

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.