By Dennis Crouch
- Prioritized Examination: Yesterday, I wrote about the PTO’s implementation of a prioritized examination program (Track 1). Although the notice published by the PTO indicated that the Office was proceeding “with immediate implementation,” the notice also refers to an “implementation date.” I contacted PTO officials for some clarification and can report that Track 1 is not yet available; that the implementation date has not been set; but that the expectation is that the program will be implemented in May or June of this year.
- Story Suggestions: My student (and future patent attorney) Lawrence Higgins has been writing these bits and bytes posts lately. He’s planning to write about interesting cases, bits of patent law news, moves made by patent law thought leaders, upcoming events, jobs available, etc. If you have topic suggestions, e-mail him: Lawrence.Higgins@patentlyo.com.
- End Patents?: Eric Johnson, Professor of Law at UND has released a draft of his article: Intellectual Property’s Great Fallacy. In the article, Prof. Johnson attempts to explain why, except for some specific circumstances, patents and copyrights are completely unnecessary. “Using recent advances in behavioral economics, psychology, and business-management studies, it is now possible to show that there are natural and intrinsic motivations that will cause technology and the arts to flourish even in the absence of externally supplied rewards, such as copyrights and patents.” http://ssrn.com/abstract=1746343