The patent experts of Cislo & Thomas LLP handle all aspects of utility, design, and provisional patents, including:

• Patentability Investigations, including prior art searches of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and searches of foreign patent agencies;
• Patent application preparation and prosecution for both the United States and internationally (PCT, EPO, and country-specific);
• Patent licensing;
• Competitive patent tracking services;
• Patent portfolio management;
• Maintenance and renewal services (domestic and foreign);
• Patent infringement investigation and protection; and
• Patent validity/invalidity investigations.

Below you will find links to laws and rules relevant to patenting inventions in the United States.

They include Congressional statutes, promulgated Patent Office rules, Patent Office procedures, and federal case law, which interprets these statutes, rules and procedures. You will also find a link to file patents online below.

Patent Statutes (U.S.C.) – United States Statutes are written by Congress and approved by the President. They govern all patent matters throughout the U.S. and override all patent office rules and procedures.

Patent Term Calculator– Use the calculator to find out the expiration dates of a utility, plant, or design patent.

Patent Rules (C.F.R.) – Federal Patent Regulations promulgated by the U.S. Patent Office govern how the Patent Office will operate in a given scenario.

Utility Patent Preparation Filing Guide – United States Patent Office (USPTO) filing guide for filing utility patent applications.

Patent Prosecution Flow Chart – See the steps for filing patent applications from start to finish on this chart.

Patent Manual of Examining Procedure (MPEP) – The manual used by patent examiners that describes the various procedures for handling patent applications and issued patents.

Patent Office Filing Fees – Current government fees for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Patent Bots: Essential Tools for Patent Prosecution – Includes patent proofreading, examiner statistics, and other helpful patent tools.

The Patent Center – U.S. Patent Office online access to public information to access documents and statuses on publicly available patents and patent applications.

Federal Circuit Cases (CAFC) – Federal Court of Appeals’ decisions on Patent Law from all regional district courts. Appeals from the various Federal District Court cases pertaining to patents go directly to the CAFC located in Washington D.C. for review.

Federal Circuit Case Law Outline of Federal Circuit Decisions – A great starting point for researching Patent Law and the various patent law issues that arise in litigation.

Board of Patent Appeals & Interferences Decisions – Addresses appeals of patent application rejections as well as disputes between inventors.

Pillsbury PTAB Handbook – The definitive online guide to successfully navigating the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

AIPLA Patent Resources – American Intellectual Property Law Association. Information concerning all aspects of U.S. patents.

Compendium of Innovation and Intellectual Asset Management Best-Practices – Guide of Best IP Practices from Germeraad Consulting Group.

Patent Process Outline – An outline of the entire patent process.

General Patent Information – Wikipedia page on patents.

Provisional Patent Cover Sheet – To be used for filing a provisional patent.

File Patent Applications Online – The United States Patent Office (USPTO) portal for the online filing of patent applications.

First Office Action Estimator – Estimate how long it will take for a first Office action to be issued on a specific patent application by entering its serial number.

U.S. Patent Pre-Filing Consideration Checklist – This form is used to help determine whether or not an expedited request should be made, or whether the application should be published.

Patent Assignment Template – Use this patent assignment template as a starting point in considering issues to be addressed in your patent application or the transfer of your rights to a third party assignee.

Patent License Agreement Template – Use this licensing agreement template is as a starting point in considering the issues involved in licensing a pending U.S. patent to a third party licensee (where the licensor retains ownership of the patent rights).

PTAB AIA Trial Practice Guide – The Practice Guide is intended to apprise the public of standard practices before the PTAB during AIA trial proceedings, including inter partes reviews, post-grant reviews, covered business method reviews, and derivation proceedings.

PTAB Consolidated AIA Trial Practice Guide – This Practice Guide is consolidated version of the above-referenced PTAB AIA Trial Practice Guide.

USPTO Hague Agreement Information – This is the USPTO page regarding the Hague Agreement, which “offers the possibility of obtaining protection for up to 100 industrial designs in designated member countries and intergovernmental organizations (referred to as “Contracting Parties”) by filing a single international application in a single language either directly with the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) or indirectly through the office of applicant’s Contracting Party.” – along with a Hague Fee Calculator

Patent Preparation Template – Method or Process

Patent Preparation Template – Software or E-Commerce System

Patent Preparation Template – Chemical, Formulation, or Compositions

Patent Preparation Template – Equipment, Parts and Mechanical Devices