May 2023

While McCoy Russell is a nationally ranked for its trademark practice and patent drafting quality and prosecution practice, the firm maintains an active international client base. The firm has significant experience in China, Europe, and Japan advising clients on intellectual property matters.

McCoy Russell collaborates with many esteemed foreign firms and associates, that share in our values of accuracy, timeliness, and substantive response, to assist with international patent and trademark prosecution, patent and trademark licensing, patent non-infringement and invalidity studies, trademark oppositions and cancellations, and patent and trademark litigation matters for clients.

The practice spans all areas of IP law, including helping clients build strong patent and trademark portfolios, and helping them obtain value through licensing and enforcement of portfolio assets. We evaluate infringement risks for new technologies and brands, and help clients conduct due diligence when acquiring intellectual property assets. We represent clients worldwide, ranging from small entrepreneurs to global powerhouses in a wide spectrum of industries.

Bringing together the most influential business and legal brand professionals from across the globe, INTA’s Annual Meeting takes place in Singapore this week. With its membership across 181 countries, INTA’s Annual Meeting is the largest gathering of its kind and among them are McCoy Russell representatives.

Featured programming, business development, discussion on brand rights and IP innovation INTA is a unique opportunity to develop and deepen relationships and collaborate in developing ways to protect and promote the rights of Trademark owners.

McCoy Russell is a nationally ranked for its trademark practice and patent drafting quality and prosecution practice. The firm maintains an active international client base and has significant experience in China, Europe, and Japan advising clients on intellectual property matters.

As an innovative firm, McCoy Russell’s software arm (Ironcrow) blends technology and law developing state of the art machine learning algorithms to make patent prosecution smarter. IronCrow exists to bring modern advancements in machine learning (ML) to patent professionals in the form of time saving tools and insightful analytics.

McCoy Russell leverages Ironcrow’s OA-Shell to automate the tedious task of generating a first draft Office Action response, and allows patent professionals to spend more time crafting the substantive arguments and amendments which ultimately determine the prosecution outcome.

OA-Shell works by:

• Extracting and intelligently reformatting all allowances, objections, and rejections present in the Office Action
• Generating a clean version of the claims ready for amendments
• Adding appropriate status indicators to the claims
• Identifying all cover page info, including inventor, filing date, OA date, etc., and
• Filling out a customizable OA response template with all content described above

Increase consistency and save time and money, learn more about Ironcrow AI’s OA-Shell (https://www.ironcrowai.com/prosecution/).

The results speak for themselves. In 2022, McCoy Russell issued over 800 U.S. patents, the most of any women-owned boutique patent prosecution firm.  The firm has an over 90% allowance rate over the past 10 years, an appeal win rate of over 75% (over 300 appeals before PTAB) and a petition win rate of over 85%.  We further file 99% of responses to the USPTO on time without an extension due to our firm’s delay.  McCoy Russell shows its dedication to innovation, applying pioneering solutions and technologies to maximize the potential of our highly-skilled staff to the benefit of our clients.

At times, Patent professionals find themselves tasked with evaluating an invention disclosure when all they have to work with is a journal article. While this can be a challenging task, there are a few key things to look for:

• First and foremost, look for clear and concise language that describes the invention. The journal article should provide some information as to description of the invention, including how it works, what problem it solves, and how it differs from existing technology. This information is essential to determine if the invention is patentable.
• Next, evaluate the potential market for the invention. The journal article should provide some indication of the market need for the invention and ways it could be commercialized. This information is critical to determine the value of the invention.
• Another factor is the level of detail provided in the journal article. A well-written article should provide enough information to enable a person skilled in the art to reproduce the invention. This is important to ensure that the invention is fully disclosed and can be adequately protected by a patent.
• Finally, look for any potential challenges to patentability. For example, if the invention has been disclosed in a prior publication or has already been published, it may not be eligible for patent protection.

Evaluating an invention disclosure based on a journal article can be challenging, but by looking for clear language, assessing the potential market, evaluating the level of detail provided, and identifying potential challenges to patentability, an experienced patent attorney can make an informed decision about whether the invention is worth filing in a patent application.

McCoy Russell has substantial experience with academic and research institutions and their technology transfer offices providing specific support tailored to the unique challenges presented in academic and research environments pursuing technology commercialization. Contact us at [email protected] if we can be of assistance.

Design patents are a form of intellectual property protection that can be utilized in various industries. However, some areas are often overlooked for design patent protection, including architecture. In architecture, few realize that design patents can protect the ornamental features of a building exterior, such as unique shapes, surface ornamentation, and other visual characteristics.

One example of a design patent for a Dwelling Structure is Design Patent No. D965,818. This patent, issued in October 2022, protects the ornamental design for a dwelling structure’s visual identity.

Design patents for building exteriors can be particularly valuable for architects, as they can help establish and protect a building’s visual identity. This can be especially important in the competitive world of real estate, where distinctive architectural designs can help attract potential buyers or tenants.

It is worth noting that design patents for building exteriors are not a substitute for other forms of intellectual property protection, but work as an asset in a strong and diverse intellectual property portfolio.

In conclusion, design patents for architects and others in the construction industry should be part of the discussion.  Consulting with an experienced intellectual property attorney can help identify the appropriate forms of protection for unique brands, designs, and innovation. McCoy Russell has a specialty designs practice and experience with the architecture and construction fields, as well as in protecting software used in these fields. Contact us at [email protected] if we can be of assistance.