PLI recently updated the acclaimed How to Write a Patent Application.

Stocked with drafting checklists and sample drafting language, documents, and drawings, the third edition of How to Write a Patent Application walks you step by step through the entire process of preparing patent applications.

In this release, the author expands and updates your treatise with
practical information on the following topics and more:

• Micro entity status: One commentator has suggested that micro entity status should never be claimed, because the costs will outweigh the benefits.
• Expanded Collaborative Search Pilot Program: This release describes the basic requirements to quality for the program, which results in an expedited first office action, but no further expedited examination.
• Patent agents: The Texas Supreme Court has recognized a patent agent–client privilege, although not all communications are protected (In re Silver).
• Patentable subject matter—preemption: In Return Mail, Inc. v. U.S. Postal Service, the Federal Circuit noted that the issue of whether a claim completely preempts others from entering the field plays a part in analysis of whether the invention is patentable subject matter. The absence of preemption supports a determination that a claim is patent eligible, but the absence of preemption does not necessarily save a claim.
• Indefiniteness—claims that are in two statutory classes: Claims that cover two statutory classes, such as a claim that covers both an apparatus and a method of using that apparatus, can be indefinite. However, using functional language to define the properties of an apparatus does not render the claims indefinite. According to the Federal Circuit, a claim that requires specific actions performed by the user rather than capabilities of the system is indefinite under 35 U.S.C. § 112 (MasterMine Software, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp.).
• Writing the specification—background section: The author contraststwo separate philosophies as to what should be included in the background section: One is to include substantially nothing; the other is to make a sales pitch.
• Design patent applications—cross-references: If appropriate, a design patent application can include a cross-reference section to related applications. The cross-reference section should also include any priority claim such as to previously filed design applications or even utility applications. However, a claim to a nonprovisional utility application cannot include a claim to priority of a provisional application from which the intermediate application claims priority.
• Software patent applications—writing a specification defining subject matter eligibility: To avoid a subject matter rejection under Alice Corp Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank International, it is desirable that the claims contain limitations that satisfy subject matter eligibility requirements, with support for the claims in the specification. Accordingly, the author offers six drafting suggestions for the specification.
• Biotechnology patent applications—presentation of nucleotide and amino acid sequences: Patent Office rules standardize the disclosure of nucleotide and amino acid sequences in biotechnology patent applications. The rules facilitate the examination and printing of detailed sequence information and do not alter the substantive requirements of the patent statute. Among other things, these rules require that all patent applications containing an unbranched sequence of four or more amino acids, or an unbranched sequence of ten or more nucleotides, contain a sequence listing. The sequence listing must be submitted in paper or compact disc form, as well as submitted in a computer-readable form (CRF) using standardized symbols and format. The rules are part of an international effort to facilitate the electronic transfer of sequence information for universal use.
• Foreign patent applications—broadening claims: Practitioners should be aware that, in Europe, once an application has been filed, it is very difficult to broaden a claim. Thus a claim directed to elements A, B, and C may not be broadened to include just A and B, even if the specification specifically reports such an option. Accordingly, it is desirable in a first filing in many foreign countries, including in the European Patent Office, to include very broad claims.

The updated treatise is available on PLI PLUS, our research database.  If you’d like to order a print copy, please email libraryrelations@pli.edu or call 877.900.5291.