Inventor Gilbert Hyatt, who has been embroiled in litigation with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for decades, lost his latest case at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) when the court ruled today that an examiner’s restriction requirement was permitted under 37 C.F.R. § 1.129 (“Rule 129”). The case relates to Hyatt’s U.S. Patent Application No. 08/435,938, which was filed on May 5, 1995, and falls within the so-called “GATT Bubble.” The GATT Bubble is the term applied to patent applications filed but not yet granted before the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA), which amended the U.S. patent term to 20 years from the effective filing date, took effect on June 8, 1995.
Recent Posts
- The SEP Couch: Lyse Brillouet on Managing SEPs and Open Standards
- Unveiling The Untapped Potential of Brazil’s Solar Energy Market
- AI Armor: Learn How to Harness AI to Invest in Your Company’s Future
- Other Barks & Bites for Friday, April 19: European Court Rejects Pablo Escobar Trademark; Federal Agencies Launch Anti-Competitive Healthcare Practices Portal; and Reddit Cracks Down on Copyright Infringement
- Thoughts on the USPTO’s NPRM: Not Bad But the Big Challenges Remain