USPTO - Efficient Patent Prosecution Program - San Jose - November 17, 2015

The USPTO is hosting a program: Efficient Patent Prosecution at its new Silicon Valley Office at 26 South Four Street, San Jose, CA at 3:30 to 4:45 pm on Tuesday, November 17.

The following classes will be presented three times so you can see it all (if you have the time): (1) virtual interviews and tips for examiner interviews from San Jose; (2) searching for prior art using tools available at the Silicon Valley Office; and (3) using the Patent Ombudsman to resolve prosecution issues.  

To RSVP, send an email: siliconvalley@uspto.gov 

For more information: Silicon Valley Office

Copyright © 2015 Robert Moll. All rights reserved.

Techcrunch - Jawbone Files Countersuit Against Fitbit - Patent & Trade Secret Litigation

Techcrunch reports on the Jawbone v. Fitbit trade secret and patent litigation. See Jawbone Files Countersuit Against Fitbit In "Frivolous" Patent Infringement Case.

Copyright © 2015 Robert Moll. All rights reserved.

Vinod Khosla - The Case For Intelligent Failure To Invent The Future

Tonight, check out Vinod Khosla's The Case For Intelligent Failure To Invent The Future that tells why Silicon Valley has succeeded.

As Mr. Khosla states it, "I have experienced the power of doers, the chaotic and naïve world of optimistic entrepreneurs who just try things, admit mistakes, fail, learn, iterate, try again and find solutions – often out of necessity. Accepting, even encouraging, the right kind of failure is the best way to discover the solution to our problems and close the resource gap."

George Bernard Shaw said, "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." People like Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak who held onto the unreasonable belief they could start a company in a garage that would bring computing to the world.

Copyright © 2014 Robert Moll. All rights reserved.

USPTO - Silicon Valley satellite patent office faces delay

As you may recall the USPTO selected Silicon Valley for a satellite patent office in June 2012. Still without a permanent facility, federal budget cuts may be causing the delay in getting there. The federal government says it needs to hold 5% of PTO user fees, worth $148 million, to a general fund. This seems wrong when you consider many applicants are citizens of foreign countries. Applicants should be able to use the US patent system without their money being used to prop up the federal tax and spend policies.

For details Silicon Valley patent office faces possible 'indefinite' delay

Copyright © 2013 Robert Moll. All rights reserved.

USPTO in Silicon Valley - Sunnyvale, San Jose, Santa Clara, or Mountain View?

Joshua Sisco updates on the progress of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Silicon Valley: Patent Lawyers Have High Hopes for PTO's Valley Branch

Copyright © 2013 Robert Moll. All rights reserved.

Silicon Valley Ranks No. 1 in US Patent Grants 1988 - 2012

Today, the San Jose Mercury News published an article Silicon Valley is the nation's top dog for innovation that uses US patents to measure innovation leadership. As Mr. Steve Lohr states in NY Times Patent Producers Clustered in Only a Few Cities: "Patents, for all their flaws, are a widely used proxy for innovation."

The Brookings Institution Report below discussed in the Mercury News states that Silicon Valley (i.e., Santa Clara County) received more US patents than any other metropolitan area in the United States in 2012. Mr. Rothwell, an author of the Brookings report stated: "The Bay Area is extremely strong in every measure of innovation and in many industries" such as those relating to computers, electronics manufacturing, data processing, software, telecommunications, and web hosting.

The Mercury News says No. 1 Silicon Valley received 12.57 patents per 1,000 employees, The No. 2 metropolitian area centering on Corvallis, Oregon,  had 5.27 patents per 1,000 employees. No. 4 Santa Cruz County had 4.24 per 1,000 employees, and No. 6 San Francisco East Bay had 3.96 per 1,000 employees. Silicon Valley has been on top for US patents grants every year since 1988.

Thanks to Mr. Alan Cooper for passing along Mr. Lohr's NY Times article, which had a link to a PDF copy of Brookings Institution Report by Jonathan Rothwell, Jose Lobo, Deborah Strumsky, and Mark Muro's Patenting Prosperity: Invention and Economic Performance in the United States and its Metropolitan Areas.

Copyright © 2013 Robert Moll. All rights reserved.