NEWS

IDS about US patent application

Release time:

2017-02-17 15:16

According to 37 C.F.R 1.56 of the U.S. Patent Law, everyone participating in a patent application is obliged to disclose information related to patentability to the U.S. Patent Office. This obligation exists as long as there are still claims under review. If the patent office or attempts to deceive the patent office, or if it is malicious or intentionally violates the obligation of information disclosure, the patent will not be granted. In the case of an granted U.S. patent, if the patentee is found to have failed to comply with its disclosure obligations (Information Disclosure Statement; IDS) in a lawsuit, the patent will be unenviable.

IDS usually contains three parts of the document, the first part is the disclosure, the second part is the form of US patent number 1449, and the third part is a copy of the non-US patent case. IDS is used to allow the applicant to present relevant information to the United States Patent Office. The 1449 form is divided into two parts, the first part is used for the applicant to list the relevant patent information, and the second part is used for the applicant to list the relevant literature.

When did IDS come up?

Within 3 months of filing a US domestic application

Within 3 months from the date of entry of the international application to the U.S. National Phase

Before the first entity OA is issued

After submission of Continuing Review (RCE) and before issuance of the first OA

Consequences of IDS non-submission

Patent validity will be questioned

Patents may be deemed unenforceable

The U.S. agent may therefore forfeit the right to continue working as an agent at the USPTO

Increased costs during litigation

What you get is an unstable, weaker patent

When applying for a U.S. patent, if the inventor or patentee knows that certain prior art will affect the novelty of the patent and thus conceals that the prior art has not been submitted to the U.S. Patent Office in good faith, the U.S. Patent Office will not take any action in the application process. However, when the patentee uses his patent right to sue others in a U.S. court, if the U.S. court or the respondent finds that there is a problem with the filing of IDS in the patent application process, the patentability of the patent will be affected. Therefore, it is better for the applicant to truthfully publish and submit the existing technology, so as to avoid unnecessary troubles in the follow-up.

　　http://www.unitalenlaw.com/zhouxun2/zhouxun465/ltbl.htm