Patent Rule May Help Inventors Avoid Court

WASHINGTON (CN) - The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has adopted rules it says help inventors avoid litigation.

A key provision of the new rules "will enable a patent owner to present information to the agency for consideration, reconsideration, or correction, potentially immunizing a patent from a later inequitable conduct challenge premised on that information," said Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO David Kappos in a related press release.

An inequitable conduct challenge asserts that the inventor did not disclose knowledge of prior art that could show the invention already existed.

The rules are effective Sept. 16.

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