This Handbook has been updated to be aligned with the America Invents Act of 2011. The purpose of this Patent Professional's Handbook is to be a handy, ready reference guide for administrative staff, paralegals, support professionals in patent law firms and IP departments. As a reference guide, it is hoped that this will reduce the amount of instruction time a Registered Patent Practitioner or Patent Agent must spend with his/her staff. The arrangement of the topics facilitates thorough initial patent filings through issuance and maintenance. Many useful features include tables, diagrams, charts, glossary, key terms, and examples to illustrate the points made in this Handbook.

The Handbook contains 29 chapters and is arranged and indexed logically so that you can quickly access the information. The Handbook starts with an explanation of patent basics and moves onto explain how to do business electronically with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). Sections on establishing user accounts and accessing the PTO's patent information website are included to help the reader understand how to navigate the PTO website. The Handbook includes a section for each step in the patent process from preparing a patent application, to filing and advancing the application through the PTO to issue as a patent. The Handbook has numerous checklists that will serve as an invaluable aid to novices and a reinforcement of best practices for more experienced staff. This Handbook includes information for filing in the Patent Cooperation Treaty Office and National Phase applications in the U.S. This Handbook is very useful for those who want to learn the basics and dynamics of the Intellectual Property field and expand their horizons into a very good-paying position!

The purpose of this Patent Professional's Handbook is to be a handy, ready reference guide for administrative staff, paralegals, support professionals in patent law firms and IP departments. As a reference guide, it is hoped that this will reduce the amount of instruction time a Registered Patent Practitioner or Patent Agent must spend with his/her staff. The arrangement of the topics facilitates thorough initial patent filings through issuance and maintenance. Many useful features include tables, diagrams, charts, glossary, key terms, and examples to illustrate the points made in this Handbook.

Far more than a revised update, this new edition of a well-received guide to US patent law is twice as valuable to European patent practitioners as the previous edition. It is virtually a brand new book. The author, drawing on her recent years at a US firm, has augmented each chapter with practical information – including lines of argumentation to overcome obviousness rejections – and added new chapters, as well as much more detail on petitions and appeals, post-grant proceedings, and litigation. The new edition tells European practitioners not just about the framework of US patent law, but how it is applied. No other such book exists. With an overview of options at each stage of US patent prosecution and enforcement – with particular emphasis on its differences from the EPO system – the new edition details the available courses of action for all the procedural scenarios a European patent attorney is likely to encounter. The coverage is loaded with practical guidance on such aspects of US patent law and procedure as the following: · drafting applications and filing them at the US Patent Office; · applying provisions of the America Invents Act of 2011; · possible responses to a Final Office Action; · costs, fees, and time periods for various procedural actions; · using the US Manual of Patent Examination Procedure (MPEP); · declarations, oaths, and affidavits; · the Quick Path Information Disclosure Statement (QPIDS); · submissions on patentability by third parties; and · supplemental replies during examination proceedings. Every step in the process is described and directly compared as it operates under both the European Patent Convention (EPC) and US patent law. Any practitioner who has unsuccessfully tried to pursue in the US claims that were granted in the EPO will gain a new understanding of the reasons why – and what to do about it. In this highly practical, one-of-a-kind book, European patent professionals will find, detail by detail, exactly what is required at every stage of patent proceedings in the US. There is no other available source of such instantly accessible information for European patent lawyers, in-house counsel and paralegals, or EPC or national patent office officials, to all of whom this book will be of immeasurable value and usefulness. Intellectual property law academics and students will also benefit from the book’s comparative approach.

The Handbook contains 24 chapters and is arranged and indexed logically so that you can quickly access the information. The Handbook starts with an explanation of patent basics and moves onto explain how to do business electronically with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). Sections on establishing user accounts and accessing the PTO's patent information website include numerous screen images to help the reader understand how to navigate the PTO website. The Handbook includes a section for each step in the patent process from preparing a patent application, to filing and advancing the application through the PTO to issue as a patent. The Handbook has numerous checklists that will serve as an invaluable aid to novices and a reinforcement of best practices for more experienced staff. This Handbook has been updated to include the most recent provisions of the America Invents Act and the Patent Law Treaty. Also, this Handbook is very useful for those who want to learn the basics and dynamics of the Intellectual Property field and expand their horizons into a very good-paying position!

This Handbook has been updated for 2012 as the U.S. Patent Office keeps changing their rules. The purpose of this Patent Professional's Handbook is to be a handy, ready reference guide for administrative staff, paralegals, support professionals in patent law firms and IP departments. As a reference guide, it is hoped that this will reduce the amount of instruction time a Registered Patent Practitioner or Patent Agent must spend with his/her staff. The arrangement of the topics facilitates thorough initial patent filings through issuance and maintenance. Many useful features include tables, diagrams, charts, glossary, key terms, and examples to illustrate the points made in this Handbook.