tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21536357805226430732011-04-21T14:45:02.336-04:00The blog of Bruce Horwitz, President of TechRoadmap Inc., encouraging the discussion of current Intellectual Property issues from a non-legal perspective.Bruce Horwitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09413604952006639463noreply@blogger.comBlogger91100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153635780522643073.post-5150245406065066702007-10-23T23:04:00.000-04:002007-10-23T23:09:37.858-04:00

The IP Directions blog is now being hosted on the TechRoadmap site. You can see these posts by clicking on the links to the left or, better yet, just go to: IPDirections.Techroadmap.com

Bruce Horwitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09413604952006639463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153635780522643073.post-79020360650566504222007-10-11T17:41:00.001-04:002007-10-11T17:53:18.247-04:00

Life is full of subjective measures - Am I a "good" person? Depends. Is this a "long" piece of string? Depends. Is Playboy "pornographic"? Depends. Is that figure skating routine worthy of 9.8 or 9.9? Depends. Is my invention "obvious"? Depends.By now, you probably know that the Supreme Court, in the "KSR" ruling, made getting a patent significantly harder by throwing out a test that had been [

Bruce Horwitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09413604952006639463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153635780522643073.post-35623739511969153772007-10-05T14:33:00.000-04:002007-10-05T15:13:30.933-04:00

If you thought the present problems at the US Patent Office might get better soon, thought that you might get a meaningful, thoughtful office action in months rather than years, thought your application might get accepted or rejected on grounds that plausibly relate to the subject matter; sorry, it doesn't look like it's going to happen.The GAO has just released its study of USPTO staffing levels

Bruce Horwitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09413604952006639463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153635780522643073.post-43572105414977666572007-09-28T09:59:00.000-04:002007-10-02T08:46:54.107-04:00

Until (and perhaps after) the dust settles, keeping your patent strategy simple is likely to be the most cost effective approach. As we all recognize, this is a period of turmoil in the US patent environment. Keeping track of the rules of the game when the Supreme Court, USPTO, and Congress are all making changes puts quicksand under our feet as we plot our patent strategies. By making our patent

Bruce Horwitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09413604952006639463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153635780522643073.post-17652713656394083692007-09-24T17:36:00.000-04:002007-10-13T09:25:02.146-04:00

Last week I spoke to a potential client who essentially asked me the question posed in the title: Now that I've invented something, what do I do next to protect my invention. Unfortunately, I needed to explain that, no, she didn't have an invention, she had an idea. An idea that, perhaps, with a bunch of development effort, might become an invention - in which case we could evaluate the pros and

Bruce Horwitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09413604952006639463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153635780522643073.post-56344702251135167912007-09-17T20:33:00.000-04:002007-10-02T08:48:25.054-04:00

Last month the USPTO issued some rules changes that become effective on November 1, 2007. Some of these changes (see the patent office slide show at TechRoadmap Files) will result in significant extra expense for inventors. I'll list some of these rules changes below, but a key point that many people may have missed is that these rules will apply retroactively to many currently pending

Bruce Horwitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09413604952006639463noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153635780522643073.post-26676692276342839612007-09-10T15:54:00.000-04:002007-10-02T08:48:25.054-04:00

Ah well, not unexpectedly the House voted Friday to pass the patent "reform" legislation before it. I guess it will up to the Senate to throttle back the most questionable portions of the law. According to Greg Aharonian's Internet Patent News Service one of the provisions is that you/we, as patent applicants, must now "submit a search report and other information andanalysis relevant to

Bruce Horwitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09413604952006639463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153635780522643073.post-61893009847593478892007-09-06T12:58:00.000-04:002007-09-06T14:17:26.750-04:00

Tomorrow the House is scheduled to vote on a package of IP law "reforms". Although the bill has been pending or at least kicking around for a long time, it is being rushed to a vote in spite of (or perhaps because of) the general feeling that it is significantly flawed. Some people think the sponsors are pushing to a vote as a way to evade the growing chorus of complaints.Although time is short,

Bruce Horwitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09413604952006639463noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2153635780522643073.post-19816721290775646262007-08-28T14:51:00.000-04:002007-08-28T15:00:04.335-04:00

Since you found your way to this blog, we can assume you have some interest in Intellectual Property issues. Please take the poll at the bottom of the page to let me know how/why you arrived here.I started this blog as a replacement for my monthly eNewsletter of six years, TechRoadmap Directions. I noticed that I was receiving email questions from people and responding just to them... and I

Bruce Horwitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09413604952006639463noreply@blogger.com2