20 thoughts on “Patently-O Bits and Bytes No. 42: Two requests for help

  1. 20

    The print version of Shepards used to have all sorts of post-issuance validity data for patents, including reexams. I don’t know if this is still in Lexis or not.

  2. 19

    Aren’t Re-exams printed in the Official Gazette? If one were to download and concatenate all the electronic OGs, probably Re-exams (and re-issues) could be found by searching the concatenation.

  3. 18

    Mr. Mooney, there is no set schedule for BPMC v. California, since the Solicitor General has no deadline to express his views. Still, we consider it likely that the SG will do so at some point in August. We would then be in the court’s “long conference” of September 29th, with an order granting or denying cert issued on October 6th. If we obtain cert, oral argument would likely be in January.

  4. 16

    Regarding ReExam Certificates and not my free enjoyment of PatentlyO:

    There is no good way to find ReExams that I know of… Some databases (USPTO) have the images of the certificates added to the back of the issued patent with the new “kind code” shown (B2 to B3, etc.). Some databases do not (Espace).

    Even while searching using the Examiner tool (EAST), the certificate is not available for full-text searching. Instead, a little astericked line points out a certificate. What does this mean… key word searching claims for a chemical compound of interest will not turn up the amended claims which cover the compound. Maybe that’s a relevant piece of art, maybe it isn’t.

    Dennis, ping the PIUG.org group for methods of locating reexams using the various pay databases. Not my forte, but they’re good for that stuff.

    P.S. Re-Issues are easier to find, but not the same thing!

  5. 15

    Dennis,

    Take a look at the Association of University Technology Managers (www.autm.org)

    They are mostly looking to do a straight licensing deal in exchange for fees or equity. In my experience, they are not interested in doing any additional investment in commercialization but the inventor/professors can be good sources of additional expertise.

    Many will also in-license industrial technology in exchange for grantbacks to improvements made by their R&D.

  6. 14

    Wow, Cyncial Cyril; you’re kidding, right?

    I’m only a lowly pro se, and even I have gained very important and worthwhile information and insight from this wonderful blog and all those who contribute to it.

    I’d be happy to provide Dennis with whatever I knew or had that would help him; though of course not likely in the patent realm; in any area/field that I was able.

    Perchance you’d feel more appreciated on MySpace?

  7. 12

    Re Tech Transfer, the University of California system a has well-defined process and may be able to provide you with a flow chart or other suitable document. The same can be said of Stanford, MIT, University of Florida, and a host of other research institutions.

    The POC for the California system is:

    Name: TUCKER, William T.
    Department: Office of Technology Transfer
    Location: 1111 Franklin, #5100
    Title: Exec Director
    Phone: (510)587-6037
    Fax: (510)587-6090
    Email: William.Tucker@ucop.edu

  8. 11

    And as for Cynical Cyril, how much credit would you expect if you happened to tell Dennis the best way to search for reexamination certificates? Would you expect prominent mention in the acknowledgements of Dennis’s next academic publication? Sheesh.

  9. 9

    “this strategy won’t work to ward off a Section 146 action in district court if the university had sought an interference before the PTO”

    Isn’t there some other case pending that’s supposed to address a similar 11th amendment immunity issue? What’s the schedule on that puppy?

  10. 8

    I don’t have a flowchart for university tech transfer, Dennis, but I can give you the basic game plan for many state university systems:

    1) Accept copious sums of federal grant money for research.
    2) Give a bow of thanks to Bayh-Doyle and patent all the wonderful things university professors come up with, using that federal money.
    3) Try to find exclusive licensees to commercialize these inventions.
    4) Become dissatified with the income streams generated by #3, and look at the university patent portfolio with an eye toward litigation.
    5) Threaten to sue private entities for infringement if they don’t pay up, big time.
    6) Assert 11th Amendment immunity should any of the targets of #5 file a DJ* action against the university.
    7) Should the Supreme Court notice the unfairness of this…[strategy development in progress].

    * Sadly, this strategy won’t work to ward off a Section 146 action in district court if the university had sought an interference before the PTO. A university Dennis knows well gave that a shot, unsuccessfully.

    Sorry, Dennis, I just couldn’t resist.

  11. 7

    you can go into public pair, search for the patent number, then when the info comes up, click the “continuity data” tab, then if you see a 90/ serial child, you can click that and all the reexam stuff will be there.

  12. 6

    also, Cynical Cyril

    do you ever find any of the comments which are posted to be entertaining, even in a juvenile sort of way? and how much did you pay for that entertainment?

  13. 4

    To Cynical Cyril…
    Do you pay to use this free blog? No.
    Do you ever use any info from this blog to help your career and without giving credit to this blog by telling your boss/client? Almost certainly.
    If you don’t want to help, fine, but stop being a jack**s.
    Come back when you get out of that sixth grade mentality.

  14. 3

    gp has a good point.
    Clueless Dudas and Peterlin were too busy trying to ram illegal rules down our throats, and had no time for “petty business” like making sure the USPTO site is up 24/7 and making re-examination certificates (or file wrappers) publicly accessible.
    I assume the latter two tasks are too “mundane” and can’t land Dudas/Peterlin high-paying million dollar jobs at Intel (or at one of the other CPF monopolists).
    I suppose they are not so clueless after all – just feathering their own CPF beds.

  15. 2

    Dennis, do you plan to credit those readers who offer free advice to help you advance your academic career? If so, how?

  16. 1

    “What is the best way to search for reexamination certificates? Are these available through the PTO site?”

    It speaks volumes about .gov inefficiency that this question gets seriously asked.

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