One of the changes brought about by the America Invents Act is a new status of patent applicant called the “micro entity.” The idea is similar to the current “small entity” status granted to certain applicants–but instead of reducing fees by 50% (as for small entity applicants), the Act reduces certain patent fees by 75%… Continue reading Reduced Patent Filing Fees for Micro Entities
Month: November 2011
2011 Collegiate Inventors Competition Winners
The nonprofit organization Invent Now recently announced the winners of the annual Collegiate Inventors Competition (co-sponsored by the USPTO). The competition inlcuded categories for graduate students and undergraduate students. The First Place award for graduate students went to Kyle Allison of Boston University for his invention, “Metabolite-Mediated Elimination of Bacterial Persisters.” According to Invent Now’s… Continue reading 2011 Collegiate Inventors Competition Winners
USPTO Steve Jobs Exhibit
Today is the opening of a new exhibit at the National Inventors Hall of Fame and Museum in Alexandria, Virginia titled The Patents and Trademarks of Steve Jobs: Art and Technology that Changed the World. According to the USPTO’s press release, the exhibit will feature more than 300 patents granted to Jobs as well as… Continue reading USPTO Steve Jobs Exhibit
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Backlog Prediction Model
A couple of years ago, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office released its Patent Pendency Model (PPM) Simulation Tool, a spreadsheet that outputs the predicted total number of unexamined patent applications in inventory at the end of each fiscal year and the predicted ratio of first actions compared to filings (a number which shows if/how… Continue reading The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Backlog Prediction Model
National Inventors Hall of Fame and Museum
As one who works with patents and trademarks on a daily basis, I enjoy learning about intellecual property that helped shape history. A current exhibit at the USPTO Museum called Exercising Ingenuity displays just that–“inventions, patents, and trademarks that have emerged from the fitness, nutrition, and exercise industries.” The Exercising Ingenuity exhibit allows museum patrons… Continue reading National Inventors Hall of Fame and Museum