RE: [PIUG List] Patent Assignees on US Applications

Michelle, the absence of assignee information when US Pregrants publish
isn't primarily a result of applicants' stealthy behavior. The problem
arises due to different offices within the USPTO not communicating
effectively. That is, the assignment branch and the publication branch
of the PTO are separate and seem divided by a chasm, given that the
majority of US published applications publish without a listed assignee,
even though the majority of them have actually had assignments filed
with the PTO, often months prior to publication of their applications.
In test cases from my employer that I investigated by checking
assignments at the PTO assignments search site, I found that assignments
had often been filed within 90 days of filing our applications, yet at
18 months, those applications published without listing an assignee.

Roy Zimmermann
Medtronic

________________________________

From: Michelle Tallin [mailto:michelle_at_crimsoncanary.com]
Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2007 10:02 AM
To: piug_discussion_list_at_v2.listbox.com
Subject: [PIUG List] Patent Assignees on US Applications


I've been ploughing through a lot of US applications lately to create
competitive analyses and I've noticed that many US Patent Applications
do not have Assignee information on them - just inventor and attorney.

I presume this is either a) an oversight or b) a ploy by companies not
to divulge who's patenting the application

Does anyone have any background on why the Assignee information is often
missing?

Of course it isn't exactly hard to find out who has filed for the
application - if you don't have equivalents then all you need to do is
an inventor search. It's just rather time consuming and annoying to have
to go through that process for a whole bunch of patents

MIchelle

Michelle Tallin PhD, MBA
Pharma and Biotech Competitor Services
CrimsonCanary.com
300 Heinz St, C222
Pittsburgh, PA
Tel: 415 235 8958
Email: michelle_at_crimsoncanary.com
________________________________


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Received on Tue Nov 20 2007 - 08:51:42