Proposal for

1
Globally Protecting Intellectual Property for Em
erging Companies

2
CHOOSING THE IMPORTANT COUNTRIES
U.S. EUROPEAN JAPAN CHINA (ASIA) INDIA CANADA

AUSTRALIA KOREA ISRAEL MAINTENANCE FEES
3
THE ONE SIZE FITS ALL PATENT

• U.S. Description issues
• Limitations on drug claiming
• Disclosure of prior art
• Limitation on medical uses
• Amending specification
• Markush Table
• Provisos thinking negatively
• Checking the Box
• U.S. Provisional Application
• Legal and technical experience

4
GLOBALLY PROTECTING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY FOR
EMERGING COMPANIES

• Typical Emerging Company
• Limited resources
• Uncertain Market for Product
• Product in Early Stages of Development
• Efficacy of Product May be Uncertain
• Most companies do not want to spend large sums
  researching prior art, patentability or global
  marketability of product at the early stages when
  patent protection must be sought

5
BASIC STRATEGY AT EARLY STAGES OF PATENT
PROSECUTION -- 2 Prongs --

• Lay groundwork for protecting as broad a scope of
  patent protection as possible
  
• Defer costs of patent filing and prosecution for
  as long as possible to allow client
  
• To raise money to support invention
• To determine whether invention is marketable
• To determine where the market will be for the
  product

6
MOST IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION AT EARLY STAGES OF
PATENT PROSECUTION

• Manage client expectations regarding costs!
• Many clients are unaware of the costs of
  obtaining patent protection Internationally
  
• Costs can escalate exponentially as prosecution
  progresses
  
• Filing Fees for Various Stages of International
  Patent Prosecution
  
• U.S. Provisional Application 80 (small
  entity)
  
• U.S. Utility Application 395
• PCT International Application 1,000-2,000
• National Stage Application 500-5,000 (per
  country)
  
• European Validation 50,000 -500,000 (all
  countries)
  
• Estimates do not include fees for professional
  legal services

7
RECOMMENDED COURSE OF PROTECTION FOR INVENTION
MADE IN U.S.

• Provisional U.S. Patent Application
• Conversion at 1 Year Anniversary of
  Provisional
  
• (a) Regular U.S. Utility Application
• (b) PCT International Application
• (c) Direct National Applications in Selected
  non-PCT countries
  
• PCT National Phase (30 months from Provisional
  filing) Regular Applications in all Desired PCT
  countries, depending on corporate finances and
  projected markets

8
PROVISIONAL U.S. PATENT APPLICATION

• Defers prosecution for 1 year before filing
  regular U.S. Utility Application
  
• Establishes priority for all foreign countries
  that are members of the Patent Cooperation Treaty
  and most other foreign countries
  
• Can be filed without claimsCaveat some cases
  suggest that certain European countries may not
  uphold priority to Provisional Applications that
  do not have claims

9
CONSIDERATIONS FOR PROVISIONAL APPLICATIONS

• Provide as much detail as possible
• Draft set of claims of broad, intermediate and
  narrow scope then make sure specification
  provides written description and enablement for
  the entire range of claims, anticipated
  alternatives and generally for a range of
  equivalents
• Non-U.S. countries often require more literal
  support for claims than U.S., especially Asian
  countries
  

10
CONSIDERATIONS FOR PROVISIONAL APPLICATIONS
(Cont)

• Patent Offices in many countries dont permit,
  e.g. provisos by amendment without written
  description support for proviso
  
• One solution we use is Markush Table
• Clients often want to skimp on the Provisional
  Application, but this can lead to problems later
  if inadequate support for claims or if scope of
  invention changes
• To keep costs down
• Work together with client to identify areas that
  they can write or prepare, such as Invention
  Background and Experimental Examples Sections
  
• Have client provide prior art references and
  summary of relevance for practitioners use when
  drafting the application
  

11
Conversion at 1 Year Anniversary of Provisional

• A. Regular U.S. Utility Application
• If Provisional was well-prepared, there should be
  little to do at this point if not get it into
  good shape as described above
  
• Make sure any new data generated in the past year
  is added to the application

12
Conversion at 1 Year Anniversary of Provisional
(Cont)

• B. PCT International Application
• All PCT contracting states are now automatically
  designated
  
• For modest cost, gives additional 18 months
  before entering filing Non-U.S. National Phase
  Applications
  
• PCT Application is not examined, but now get
  International Search, Preliminary Examination
  Report and Opportunity to Amend before entering
  National Phase
• International Search can be more thorough than
  U.S.
  
• Strategic consideration List most important
  claims first if there is a Unity of Invention
  Objection at the International Stage (equivalent
  to a restriction requirement), only the first
  claimed invention will be searched

13
Conversion at 1 Year Anniversary of Provisional
(Cont)

• C. Direct National Applications in Selected
  Non-PCT Countries
  
• Most countries are members of the PCT
• New countries are continually being added, so get
  a current list

14
Conversion at 1 Year Anniversary of Provisional
(Cont)
Non-PCT Contracting States (as of 12-04)
Argentina Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Berm
uda Bolivia Brunei Cayman Islands Chile
Dominican Republic El Salvador GCC (Gulf Co-o
p Council) Guatemala Honduras Hong Kong (u
sually file registration based on EP or CN, so
not necessary to file separate application in
Hong Kong)
Iran Iraq Jamaica Jordan Kuwait Lebanon
Libya Malaysia - ?? Malta Nepal Nigeria
Pakistan - ?? Panama Paraguay Peru Sa
udi Arabia Syria Taiwan Thailand Venezu
ela
Indicates most important/frequently filed
Indicates secondary importance/less often
filed ?? Becoming more important more companies
considering
15
PCT National Phase (30 months from Provisional
filing) Regular Applications in All Desired PCT
Countries

• Deadline for Filing Applications in each Country
  and paying filing fees of typically 2,000-5,000
  per country
  
• Prosecution will usually begin shortly
  thereafter, based on the patent laws of each
  country, but may be deferred for several
  years(e.g. Japan)
• Begin to incur foreign associate fees for legal
  services
  
• Includes EP (see procedure below)
• By this time, company should have better idea as
  to marketability of product in various countries
  should have developed a global marketing strategy
  and raised capital

16
Currently 124 PCT Contracting States
EP Albania Austria Belgium Bosnia and He
rzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czec
h Republic Denmark Estonia Finland F
rance Germany Hellenic Republic (Greece)
Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Latvi
a Lithuania Luxembourg Monaco Netherlan
ds Poland Portugal Romania Serbia and
Montenegro (formerly known as the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia) Slovakia Slovenia S
pain Sweden Switzerland Liechtenstein
The former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia Turkey United Kingdom
Top Tier (non-EP) Australia Canada China Israe
l Japan New Zealand Russian Federation Republ
ic of Korea
Second Tier Brazil Colombia Egypt India Ind
onesia Mexico Philippines Singapore South Afr
ica
United Arab Emirates
Third Tier Algeria Antigua and Barbuda Armenia
Azerbaijan Barbados Belarus Belize Benin Bot
swana Burkina Faso Cameroon Central African Rep
ublic Chad Congo Costa Rica Côte d'Ivoire Cub
a Democratic People's Republic of Korea Dominic
a Ecuador Equatorial Guinea Gabon Gambia Geor
gia Ghana Grenada Guinea Guinea Bissau Kazakh
stan Kenya Kyrgyzstan Lesotho Liberia Madagas
car Malawi
Mali Mauritania Mongolia Mozambique Namibia N
icaragua Niger Oman Papua New Guinea Republic
of Moldova Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Gren
adines San Marino Senegal Serbia and Seychell
es Sierra Leone Sri Lanka Sudan Swaziland Syr
ian Arab Republic Tajikistan Togo Trinidad and
Tobago Tunisia Turkmenistan Uganda United Repu
blic of Tanzania Uzbekistan Viet Nam Zambia Zi
mbabwe
17
European Patent Protection

• Can file direct National applications in each
  country
  
• More typically, file EP patent application(by
  designation on PCT)
  
• Single application is searched and examined by
  the european patent office
  
• Examination costs and legal fees reduced
• Once patent granted by EPO, must be validated in
  each country where protection is desired (),
  but these costs are deferred until AFTER patent
  is granted
• Validation costs include filing fees and
  translation into National language of each
  countryChina Patent

18
Our Global Reach
London
Brussels
Paris
San Francisco
Stamford
Los Angeles
New York
Tokyo
Orange County
Beijing
San Diego
Washington
Shanghai
Atlanta
Hong Kong
19
Our Offices

• EUROPE
• Brussels
• Avenue Louise 480, Boîte 5B
• 1050 Bruxelles
• Belgium
• Telephone [phone]
• Facsimile 32 2 641 7461
• Paris
• 30, avenue de Messine
• 75008 Paris
• France
• Telephone [phone]
• Facsimile 33 1 45 63 91 49
• London
• 88 Wood Street
• London EC2V 7AJ

• NORTH AMERICA
• Atlanta
• 600 Peachtree Street, N.E.
• Atlanta, GA 30308
• Telephone [phone]
• Facsimile 1 404 815 2424
• Los Angeles
• 515 S. Flower Street
• Los Angeles, CA 90071
• Telephone [phone]
• Facsimile 1 213 627 0705
• New York
• 75 East 55th Street
• New York, NY 10022
• Telephone [phone]
• Facsimile 1 212 319 4090

ASIA Beijing Suite 2406 2410 China World Tow
er 2 No. 1 Jian Guo Men Wai Avenue Beijing, 100
004 China Telephone [phone]Facsimile
86 10 6505 3459 Hong Kong 22/F Bank of China
Tower1 Garden Road Hong Kong Telephone 852 2
867 9988Facsimile 852 2868 1017
Shanghai 2301 Hong Kong New World Tower 300 H
uai Hai Middle RoadShanghai, 200021 China
Telephone [phone]Facsimile 86 21 6335
3940 Tokyo 27F Ark Mori Bldg 12 32 Akasaka 1-
Chome Minato-Ku, Tokyo 107 6027, Japan Telephone
81 3 3586 4711 Facsimile 81 3 3586 4705
San Diego 3579 Valley Centre Drive San Diego
, CA 92130 Telephone [phone] Facsimile
1 858 720 2555 San Francisco 55 Second Stree
t, 24th Floor San Francisco, CA 94105 3441 Tel
ephone 1 415 856 7000 Facsimile 1 415 856 710
0 Stamford 1055 Washington Boulevard Stamford
, CT 06901 Telephone [phone] Facsimile
1 203 359 3031 Washington, D.C. 1299 Pennsy
lvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20004 Telep
hone 1 202 508 9500 Facsimile 1 202 508 9700
For further information, you may visit our home
page at www.paulhastings.com or email us at
info_at_paulhastings.com.