United States Patent and Trademark Office
- Current hot topic: USPTO 2010 consultation - deadline 27 sept
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is known for granting large numbers of software patents.
According to a 2004 paper by Bessen and Hunt, the USPTO approves about 70 software patents per day.(see page 47) Other sources have said that in 2006 the USTPO granted just over 40,000 software patents,[1] which is 110 per day, seven days per week.
The USPTO is an agency of the US government's Department of Commerce.
Contents
Specifically excluded
In the USA, according to the USPTO, "...it has been held that the laws of nature, physical phenomena and abstract ideas are not patentable subject matter."[2]
Key people
The Director of the USPTO, since August 2009, is David Kappos.[3] Kappos previously worked for IBM as vice president for intellectual-property law.[4]
Examiners stuck for time
Examiners in the USPTO have on average 20 hours to examine each application.[5]
Procedural notes
More info sought: there is an "Office of First Filing" and an "Office of Second Filing".[6]
Related pages on ESP Wiki
- USA patents courts and appeals
- Who decides if software patents exist
- Criteria for patentability
- 1994 USPTO software patent hearings
- Legislation in the USA - the USPTO interprets the legislation
External links
- http://uspto.gov - the USPTO's website
- The USPTO's PAIR system for checking the status of applications
USPTO documents
- http://des.uspto.gov/Foia/ReterivePdf?system=BPAI&flNm=fd20072130-10-04-2007-1 "There is no authority that we know of which permits software per se to be considered statutory [patentable subject matter]."
- The USPTO's accelerated patent procedure
- http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2009/08/interim-guidelines-on-statutory-subject-matter.html - A third-party article linking to the USPTO's guidelines on interpreting the Bilski Particular machine or transformation test
Third party documents
- http://www.bitlaw.com/source/soft_pats/final.html
- http://www.bitlaw.com/software-patent/patentable.html
- A 1981 patent claims to be the first USA software patent
- Graph of number of software patents granted by the USPTO per year
References
- ↑ http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/01/12/patent-ibm.html
- ↑ http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/doc/general/what.htm
- ↑ http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2009/08/kappos-sworn-in-as-director.html
- ↑ http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/08/21/8383639/index.htm
- ↑ http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/08/21/8383639/index.htm
- ↑ http://www.uspto.gov/patents/init_events/pph/index.jsp