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Hello and welcome to another edition Get Set, a video blog on legal insights and strategies for social media entertainment and technology companies.
My name is Jim Gatto need the Social Media Entertainment Technology team here
at Pillsbury. Today's topic is how to fast-track your patent for the
United States Patent and Trademark Office One of the concerns that many companies
expressed when considering whether to file a patent or not is
how long it takes to get it back. Historically, many people believe it
would take four to five years or more
to get a patent in the software social field. This is no longer the case
for most applications.
First of all the Patent Office has increased hiring and has
really implemented procedures to bring down the overall pendency rate.
But more importantly in the subject we are going to talk about today,
is that it implemented a fast-track procedure whereby you can get your
patent in less than a year in most cases. Simply put
to take advantage of this track one procedure, you file a petition,
which is fairly routine and you pay a fee. For small entities,
the fee is about twenty four hundred dollars but what you get in exchange for
that is basically being pushed to the head of a line and we're seeing many applications
being examined within about a month and a half after the petition is accepted
and we're seeing cases allowed, issued within an average
about 11 months from the time they are filed. Given the fast-paced developments
around the technology and business models, involving social media entertainment technology,
including games, augmented reality and other applications.
It may be really helpful for you to take
this procedure to avoid the delays
incurred in getting patents otherwise. Given the rapid pace of development of
technology and business models around games, social media
augmented reality and other applications, this track one procedure can be
highly advantageous to many companies who want to get a patent quickly
to use it to help prevent competitors from copying.
This is just one example of
many different decisions that can be implemented in connection with an overall
IP protection strategy for games, social media and other applications. If you'd like
more information about these, please see our website
or our piece on IP Protection for Games. Lastly
the track one procedure is part of the
overall overhaul the patent system
including the American Inventors Act or AIA. If you want more information on the
AIA, please see our resource page at the
link provided. Thanks for joining me today and join us again next time for another
edition of Get Set.
In the interim if you have any questions please feel free to contact me
or any member
Social Media Entertainment and Technology Team.