Ingresar
New Group to Mitigate Threats to the Patent System
By Ferraiuoli LLC
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced the creation of a new group to expand the agency's efforts to mitigate threats and protect the integrity of the U.S. patent system.
The USPTO’s Patent Fraud Detection and Mitigation Working Group represents the agency’s continued commitment to limit improper activity in patent applications and reexamination proceedings at USPTO and reduce patent application pendency. As patent threats continue to evolve, the working group will focus on:
-Addressing erroneous micro entity and small entity fee certifications and assertions.
-Monitoring suspicious filings.
-Identifying and reviewing potential misrepresentations to the USPTO, including false signatures, and when appropriate using the administrative sanctions process to address these misrepresentations.
Bad actors have used technology to electronically file high volumes of spurious patent applications with no intent to pursue patent protection. Typically, no fees are ever paid in these applications, and in many instances the disclosures are unintelligible. Pre-examination processing of these applications is a significant waste of resources.
Since June 2023, the USPTO has identified over 3,900 utility and design applications that were initially determined to be impacted by falsified signatures. Since October 2024, the USPTO has terminated over 3,300 applications due to falsified signatures.
Ferraiuoli LLC
Ferraiuoli LLC (FLLC) was founded in 2003 by the late Blas Ferraiuoli-Martínez, Eugenio Torres-Oyola and María Marchand-Sánchez. This group was then joined in 2004 by Fernando J. Rovira-Rullán, thus forming the founding core of FLLC. FLLC has grown exponentially since its founding from a law firm with three attorneys and a support staff of three to its current size of 54 attorneys with a support staff of 38. Also, FLLC has grown from initially being known as an intellectual property and corporate law boutique law firm to a multiservice law firm that handles most matters relevant to a business while continuing to earn praise for its leading intellectual property and corporate practices.
FLLC has been ranked as a leading law firm in Puerto Rico by the professional publication Chambers Latin America in intellectual property, corporate, bankruptcy, labor & employment, real estate, and tax law. Moreover, 17 FLLC partners have been ranked as leaders in their field by the same publication. 4 FLLC partners are ranked as leaders in Intellectual Property, no other firm has more than 2. This recognition in such a short period of time is a tribute to FLLC’s business model.
FLLC prides itself in doing its work faster and more cost-efficiently yet with the same quality as that of its main competitors. The founding name partners are available at all times to attend to client matters. Their work ethic sets the tone for the rest of the firm. FLLC’s founders’ goal has been steady from the outset: become one of the premier multiservice law firms in Puerto Rico.