USPTO Withdraws Controversial Rules

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has announced that it will withdraw controversial new rules regarding claiming and continuation applications that have been the subject of a court challenge. Two court challenges were brought by independent inventor Dr. Tafas and by pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, which were consolidated as Tafas v. Kappos. The case is currently pending appeal before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

New PTO Director Must Change the Agency’s Culture

David Kappos’ biggest challenge as the new Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office may be to change what has been called a “culture of fear” among patent examiners into a “culture of cooperation” with the patent community.