Fewer Patent Applications are Being Drafted and Filed First in the U.S.

Special thanks again to Harry Vartanian (follow him on Twitter @harryv257) for providing inspiration and feedback on this post (although all opinions and assumptions expressed…

Design Patent Rejections – Update (Part 2)

Guest post by Dunstan H. Barnes[1] To recap, today’s guest post is the second in a three-part series (read part 1 here) on Design Patent…

My Dislike of Patent Grant Rankings Aside, How Accurate Are They?

IPO is an awesome organization. It does great things for the IP ecosystem. Putting out an annual list of how many patents IBM (and 299…

Terminal Disclaimer Stats

It was starting to feel like every continuation I file gets a nonstatutory obviousness type double patenting rejection as a matter of course. So I…

Business Methods. Back in Business?

The USPTO has three art unit groups for business methods: 3620 Business Methods – Incentive Programs, Coupons; Operations Research; Electronic Shopping; Health Care; Point of…

Patent Pendency on the Rise Again

I wasn’t planning a post on pendency, but just saw some data that surprised me and thought this would be a good way to get…

How Important is Art Unit?

There is a lot of talk recently about using art unit prediction in an attempt to “game the system” and avoid art units that are…

Allowance Rates With and Without 101 Rejections, by Entity Size

6/17/2019 2:35PM UPDATE: At the bottom of this post I have now included the same analysis for 102 and 103 rejections. With the senate hearings…

Long-Pending Applications Allowed After 2019 Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance

My previous post, Floodgates Opened?, looked at stats surrounding the number of many-RCE applications which were seemingly set free by the 2019 Subject Matter Eligibility…

Floodgates opened? Follow-up on the 2019 Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance

It has been almost six months since the release of the 2019 Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance, so I decided to check in and try to…