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HR 6621 Would Add New Barriers To Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) Appeals

Posted by Courtenay Brinckerhoff on Posted in Patent Reform; Patent Term Adjustment

Although most of HR 6621 (introduced by Rep. Lamar Smith on Nov. 30, 2012) would make changes “[t]o correct and improve certain provisions of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act,” the bill includes other provisions that are entirely unrelated to the AIA and that would dramatically impact patent term. The provision receiving the most public attention would eliminate the term of patent applications filed before June 7, 1995 (“pre-GATT applications”) that are still pending. But another provision would affect all pending and new applications, as well as recently granted patents, by changing the way that Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) is calculated and challenged under 35 USC § 154(b). Continue reading this entry

USPTO Requests Reconsideration In Patent Term Adjustment Tolling Case

Posted by Courtenay Brinckerhoff on Posted in Patent Term Adjustment

The USPTO has filed a motion requesting reconsideration in Bristol Meyers Squibb Co. v. Kappos, where the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia found that the statutory deadline for bringing a civil action to challenge the Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) awarded by the USPTO is tolled when the patentee pursues reconsideration of the agency decision. As I wrote previously, the court’s original ruling was significant, because the 180-day statutory period often runs before the USPTO has issued its final decision. If the deadline is not tolled, a patentee must decide whether to bring a civil action to contest a PTA award even before the USPTO has made it’s final PTA calculation. Continue reading this entry

District Court Finds That Deadline To File PTA Action Was Tolled By Request For Reconsideration

Posted by Courtenay Brinckerhoff on Posted in Patent Term Adjustment

In a decision issued January 27, 2012, in Bristol Meyers Squibb Co. v. Kappos, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia found that the statutory deadline for bringing a civil action to challenge the Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) awarded by the USPTO is tolled when the patentee pursues reconsideration of the agency decision. This ruling is significant, because the 180-day statutory period often occurs before the USPTO issues its final decision on a request for reconsideration. Continue reading this entry