The patent resource Patent Lens has been extended to cover Australian patents. “This means that for the first time, the full text of Australian patents can be searched, viewed and printed at no cost, by anyone.” The Patent Lens already offered free full-text searching in US, Europe, WIPO patent documents, including their references to their status and counterparts in up to 60 countries. Over 115,000 Australian granted patents and over 580,000 patent applications are now part of the over 7 million documents in the Patent Lens’ collection.

Full-text searching means that searchers are no longer limited to the “front page” of patent information, such as the titles, patent numbers and inventors’ names, instead the complete text of the document can be searched.

Patent Lens is provided by CAMBIA, a non-profit organization based in Canberra.

Further Information

View CAMBIA press release

New technical dictionaries have been added to the automatic English-Spanish translator on esp@cenet to improve the quality of translations. Over 60,000 new validated terms have been added, with the service automatically selecting dictionaries and terminology based on the technology described in the patent.

Suggestions of further translation proposals (terms and expressions) can be sent to doliveira@epo.org for inclusion in future dictionaries.

Information about the services offered by the member states can be found here.

Building on the Trademark Law Treaty of 1994, the new treaty applies to all types of marks registrable under the laws of the ratified country. It is also the first international instrument that explicitly recognises non-traditional marks, including: three-dimensional marks, colour, position and movement marks, non-traditional visible marks such as holograms and non-visible marks such as sound, taste and feel marks.

The treaty, adopted on 27 March 2006, which has also been ratified by Singapore, will come into force three months after ten states or intergovernmental organisations accent to or ratify the treaty.

Further Information

Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property

Last month the Peer-Review Pilot program for computing technology patents was launched by the U.S Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). This program allows technical experts in the field to submit commentary in addition to prior art related to a patent before the patent is examined by the USPTO.

Previously the USPTO had not accepted commentary from the public. Under the current law the approval of the applicant must be sought before the commentary will be accepted.

Jon Dudas, director of the USPTO, explained that the purpose of this scheme is to aid in examiners finding and properly considering the most relevant information. It is hoped that the program will combat the problems with “software-related technologies where code is not easily accessible and is often not dated or well documented."

Patent applications received under this program will be assigned to an examiner immediately, in order to expedite the review of applications.

The pilot program is for one year and is described as being “just one facet of USPTO’s broader efforts to find new ways to get the best information in front of examiners.” Another program the USPTO supports is the implementation of “applicant quality submissions’ where the applicant would submit search and support documents.

Further information about the program can be found here.

• 20 Aug 2007 - 21 Aug 2007 - U.S. Patent Law - Munich, Germany (FORUM Insitut für Management GmbH) This course will center around an interactive case study that provides participants with a hands-on analysis of U.S patent law. The course will take you from the conception of the invention and determining inventorship, drafting the application, prosecution, and preparing for and litigating the patent. Breakout sessions based on technology areas will focus on issues specific to your area of practice.
• 11 Nov 2007 - 14 Nov 2007 - Pharma-Bio-Med 2007 - Athens, Greece (Pharma-Bio-Med Org.) Pharma-Bio-Med is the only specialist conference of its kind in Europe that focuses on the role of the Information Professional through all stages of a drug's progression, including R&D, pre-clinical, clinical, medical, regulatory, safety, pipeline, business and competitor information.
• 6 Dec 2007 - 7 Dec 2007 - Licensing Law - Frankfurt, Germany (FORUM Institut für Management GmbH) - Pre-licensing considerations - Anatomy of a license - Typical clauses - Commercial use, rating and valuation of intellectual property rights - EU competition rules for technology license agreements - License agreements between university and industry - Licensing Game

The program enables applicants whose claims have been determined patentable to have their application in the corresponding country advanced out of turn for examination.

Earlier this year the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) and the JPO also launched such a program.

In addition, the USPTO – JPO pilot program has been extended for a further 6 months, after the initial term of a year concluded on 3 July 2007,

The UK-IPO has announced that it is also discussing the possibility of a similar program between the USPTO and itself to be launched later this year

Further Information

UK-IPO Press Release – “Patent Highway between the UK and Japan opens”

USPTO Press Release – “Extension of Patent Prosecution Highway Program between the USPTO and JPO”

JPO – JPO & USPTO Patent Prosecution Highway procedures

JPO – JPO & UK-IPO Patent Prosecution Highway procedures

JPO – JPO & KIPO Patent Prosecution Highway procedures

In addition, the UK-IPO has also launched an online patent application service that will allow users to apply for patents online, including providing their inventorship information and requesting a search and examination of their application. This service can be accessed from here.