The rules for the Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) provide for a term deduction for “applicant delay” before the examination commences — if the application is not “ready for examination” within eight months of its filing date (or national stage commencement date). It is very important to be aware of this rule. 

{1:55 minutes to read} When an applicant files an Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) after a response or Request for Continued Examination (RCE), the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) treats such a submission as a “supplemental paper.” This triggers a Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) deduction for the applicant’s delay, citing 37 C.F.R. 1.704(c)(8)—even if […]

{1:40 minutes to read} In evaluating the case Magna Electronics, Inc. v. TRW Automotive Holdings Corp., I pose an important question: Is this the end of the patent term adjustment? What are the facts of the case? The patent at issue (U.S. Patent No. 7,339,149, hereinafter “the ‘149 patent”) was filed November 16, 1999, by […]