a r b o r l a w » Patent

USPTO Opens First Satellite Patent Office In Detroit

Arborlaw — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 12:13:24 +0000

The United States Patent Office has announced it will open satellite patent offices to help deal with the backlog of patent applications. Detroit was chosen as the first location due to the highly trained professional scientific and engineering work force, the number of applications which originate from Michigan inventors, and its proximity to world-class universities. The satellite office will create about 100 Michigan jobs.

The University of Michigan, the city of Ann Arbor, Detroit patent law firms, auto manufacturers and Tier 1 suppliers are among the many who will benefit from the proximity of the new resource. U of M Vice President for Research Stephen Forrest stated: ”The opening of a satellite office for the PTO in Detroit will have enormous benefits for the region, and of course, also for the University of Michigan….The ability to do patent business at an office in Detroit will be a boon to the many educational institutions and knowledge-based industries in the larger region.”

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US PTO Processed Record Number of Applications in 2006

Arborlaw — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 03:13:44 +0000

2006 was a banner year for intellectual property, according to a press release issued by the the US Patent and Trademark Office. 440,000 patent applications were received, and 332,000 applications were examined by the Office. The allowance rate (the ratio of patents granted to applications) was 54%, the lowest on record.

The PTO processed 378,111 trademark applications in 2006, a 36% increase over the previous year. In total, 354,775 trademark applications were filed, a 9.4% increase over FY 2005.

I keep hearing they’re getting their act together. I’ll be looking for statistics to report on how quickly the average trademark application moves through examination and final determination.

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David Slays Microsoft

Arborlaw — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 04:07:37 +0000

Kudos to Michigan Attorney For Taking Down Goliath
Michigan patent attorney Ernie Brooks accomplished what the EU and the US Government have had a devilishly hard time doing: he won a significant courtroom victory against Microsoft. The $118M verdict against Microsoft in z4 Technologies, Inc. v. Microsoft, — F.Supp.2d. —, (E.D.Tex. April 19, 2006, Docket No. 6:06-CV-142) is the second-largest ever awarded against the company. Plaintiff z4 is a maker of anti-piracy technology. The jury found that z4′s technology was infringed by Microsoft Office and XP.

Brooks’ strategy? “Keep it simple” for the jury and be enormously selective about which patent issues to take to trial.

Score one for the little guy with the “aw, shucks” Midwestern lawyah.

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