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Chief Editor: Sreenivasarao
Vepachedu, PhD, JD, LLM
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Issue 16
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5107 Kali Era , Paardhiva Year, Ashadha
month
2063 Vikramarka Era, Paardhiva Year, Ashadha
month
1927 Salivahana Era , Paardhiva
Year, Ashadha month
2005 AD, July
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Contents
Phillips v. AWH Corp
Expected
Patent Prosecution Delay
Phillips v. AWH Corp
In Phillips
v. AWH Corp. (Fed. Cir. 2005) (en banc)., the CAFC has moved away
from extrinsic evidence offered by dictionaries and encyclopedias toward
a more detailed analysis of the patent specification, rejecting the
claim construction approach of Texas Digital Systems v. Telegenix (Fed. Cir. 2002). The court found
that the problem of using dictionaries in claim construction is that they
focus the inquiry on the abstract meaning of words rather than on the meaning
of claim terms within the context of the patent. Interpreting
35 U.S.C. 112, the CAFC determined that the statute requires that the specification
inform the claim construction. Whether a
patent drafter acts intentionally or not, the specification is now likely
to shape the meaning of the claims.
Expected
Patent Prosecution Delay
The PTO has begun reporting the “average filing
date of applications receiving a first office action” broken down by
technology center. Dennis Crouch
crouch@mbhb.com
took those most recent numbers and calculated an average backlog in months.
His table is given below, also available at: http://patentlaw.typepad.com/patent/2005/07/index.html:
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Tech
Center
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Tech
Center
Description
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Average
Backlog (Months)
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1660
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Plants
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10
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2900
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Designs
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13
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3640
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Aeronautics,
agricultu
re,
fishing, trapping, vermin destroying, plant and animal husbandry, weaponry,
nuclear systems and licensing & review
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14
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2810
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Static
memory and digital logic
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15
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3740
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Thermal
and combustion technology, motive and fluid power systems
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15
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3610
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Surface
transportation
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15
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3670
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Wells,
earth boring/moving/working, excavating, mining, harvesters, bridges,
roads, petroleum, closures, connections, and miscellaneous hardware
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15
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3630
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Static
structures, supports and furniture
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16
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2890
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Semiconductor,
Electrical, Optical Systems & Components
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16
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3680
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Machine
elements and power transmissions
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16
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2870/2880
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Liquid
crystals, optical elements, optical systems, fiber optics, lasers, electric
lamps, registers, optics measuring and radiant energy
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17
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3750
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Fluid
handling and dispensing, and Textile Manufacturing and Apparel
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17
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2820
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Semiconductors
and electrical circuits
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17
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3720
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Packages
and containers, manufacturing devices and processes, machine tools and
hand tools
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17
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3650
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Material
handling and article handling
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17
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3710
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Amusement
and education devices
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17
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1720
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Fluid
separation and agitation, metal foundry, welding, plastic molding apparatus,
fuels and related compositions
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18
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1620
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Organic
chemistry
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18
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3660
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Computerized
vehicle controls and navigation, radio wave optical and acoustic wave
communication
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18
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2850/2860
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Photocopying,
recorders, measuring and testing, printing
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18
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1750
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Chemical
products and processes, solar cells and sputtering apparatuses
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19
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1710
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Synthetic
resins
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19
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1770
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Stock
materials and miscellaneous articles
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19
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2830/2840
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Power
generation and distribution, music, electrical components and control
circuits
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20
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1730
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Glass
and paper making, tobacco, non-metallic molding, adhesive bonding, tires
and coating apparatus
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22
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3760
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Body
treatment, kinestherapy, and exercising
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22
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1650
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Fermentation,
microbiology, isolated and recombinant proteins/enzymes
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23
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1610
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Organic
compounds: bio-affecting, body treating, drug delivery, steroids, herbicides,
pesticides, cosmetics, and drugs
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23
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1760
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Food
technology, petroleum processing, coating and etching
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23
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2670
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Computer
graphics
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24
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1740
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Metallurgy,
electrochemistry, cleaning, disinfecting, sterilizing, analytical chemistry
and wave energy
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24
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1630
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Molecular
biology, bioinformatics, nucleic acids, recombinant DNA and RNA, Gene
regulation, gene therapy, nucleic acid amplification, animals and recombinant
plants, combinatorial/computational chemistry.
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26
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2650
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Dynamic
information storage and retrieval
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26
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2680
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Radio
Telecommunications
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26
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2180
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Computer
architecture
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27
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1640
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Immunology,
receptor/ligands, cytokines, recombinant
hormones, and molecular biology thereof
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28
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2630
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Digital,
optical, and general communications
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30
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2110
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Computer
architecture
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30
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2640
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Audio,
speech processing and wired telephone
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30
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2120
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Miscellaneous
computer applications
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31
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2160/2170
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Graphical
user interface, data bases
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34
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3620
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Electronic
Commerce
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35
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2190
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Interprocess
Communications & Software Development
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36
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2620
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Image
analysis,
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37
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2140/2150
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Computer
networks
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38
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2610
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Television
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39
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2130
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Cryptography,
security
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39
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2660
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Multiplex
communication
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40
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