New UPSTO Report Hints of More Efficient, Tougher Office

In its annual Performance and Accountability Report, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) disclosed that it had reviewed a record number of patent applications and trademark applications in fiscal year 2007.

In total, examiners reviewed 362,227 patent applications and attorneys analyzed 323,527 trademark applications, both a record number. In addition, the average time from filing of a trademark application to preliminary examination by an examining attorney was three months.

Even though examiners are seemingly prosecuting patent applications faster, the Report also indicates that obtaining a patent may be getting harder. In 2006, the USPTO's patent appeals board upheld examiners' rejections 69% of the time, up from 51% in 2005. Additionally, the USPTO granted only 51% of patent applications eligible for approval, compared to 2000 when the USPTO granted 72% of eligible patent applications.

Fall Out Boy's Copyright Mishap

Chicago punk band Fall Out Boy has seen its popularity surge over the last couple of years following the successful releases of its last two albums. In support of the band's latest release, Infinity on High, Fall Out Boy embarked on its nationwide "Young Wild Things" tour.

Unbeknownst to the band, the tour's artwork, inspired by the children's story Where the Wild Things Are, had infringed the rights of the book's author, Maurice Sendak. The artwork includes graphics depicting Fall Out Boy's members as characters from the story. The graphics were included on tour t-shirts, posters and other merchandise sold to fans.

The band has since abandoned the imagery and issued an apology to Sendak on its website. Sendak has not taken any legal action, and no word exists on whether he will.

Court Grants Preliminary Injunction to Block New USPTO Rules

On the eve of the effective date for the United States Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) new rules regarding claiming and continuations practice, Judge James Cacheris of the Eastern District of Virginia issued a preliminary injunction to prevent the rules from going into effect.

The main rule changes centered around limiting the number of continuations that an applicant may file and the number of claims that an application may contain, and many portions of the rules were to apply retroactively to about 700,000 pending applications. The USPTO readied to effect the rules on November 1, 2007. However, several corporations as well as the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) filed amici briefs opposing the rule changes in the months leading up to the effective date. The corporations argued that prior court decisions warned against any blanket prohibition on the number of continuations that an applicant may file and contended that the USPTO lacks substantive rulemaking authority. Further, they argued that owners of pending applications would need to take prompt action to either abandon, limit or amend claims to comply with the proposed claim limit.

The USPTO countered by claiming that the rules are within the USPTO's regulatory authority and that the Office already made a substantial investment in training the examiners.

Nevertheless, Cacheris issued the injunction, which temporarily blocks the USPTO from implementing of all the proposed rules. The injunction is effective until there is a final judgment in the case.