Patent Office Litigation Prediction #3: Obviousness is King
*Please click on link to watch video. Unfortunately, I could not upload it directly onto blog for strange reason.
In this blog, I will be discussing the challenges that patent owners now face in terms of recent legislation concerning the obviousness of their existing patents. In this video, Robert Greene Sterne, a patent attorney, provides one of his predictions for a new contested competing world. Contested proceedings test patentability of issued patents before a newly created Patent Trial and Appeal Board. If this test is not met by a patent owner, then this will prove to be fatal for this owner and cause his previously valid patent to become removed.
Greene points out that in order for an invention to be patentable, it must be non-obvious over prior technology. His prediction lies in the fact that he believes these new contested proceedings will feature the issue of obviousness as the central theme. Essentially, this appeal board second guesses the work conducted by the original patent examiners. Obviousness is a tricky issue for patent owners because you need to able to provide the Patent Trial and Appeal Board the best evidence on why your invention is so significant, but this is difficult because of short time period proceedings, which will only be around.
Greene conclude that patent owners must be concerned and prepared for their defense of obviousness in these proceedings, move rapidly to provide evidence, and to prepare and look far out to eventual appeal if their original patent is ruled non-obvious by this newly created board.
Good job! I found it very interesting to read and hear about the new changes that will cause existing patents to be reexamined
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