Brother Receives First Patent Under New USPTO Program
March 16, 2007
Brother announce that on March 13, 2007, the company received the first-ever patent granted under the new Accelerated Examination Program by the Department of Commerce’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in the United States.
To commemorate grant of the first patent, the USPTO held a ceremony on March 15, 2007 in its headquarters in Virginia, US, where the USPTO Director Jon Dudas signed U.S. Patent No. 7,188,939 and presented it to Brother’s representative.
The Accelerated Examination Program was launched in August 2006 by the USPTO. The Program is designed for the USPTO to have a final disposition of patent applications submitted under the program within 12 months of the date of filing.
In September 2006, Brother applied for the patent concerning ink cartridge technology for digital imaging products, under the new Accelerated Examination Program. Under the new USPTO program, Brother was required to conduct a search of the prior art and explain what the prior art teaches and how the invention is different, which expedited the patent prosecution process. The USPTO subjected the application to intense scrutiny in an abbreviated period of time. As a result, the patent issued within 6 months of the date of filing.
Obtaining the patent in such a short period of time through the USPTO’s accelerated examination process has great significance for Brother. The company plans to continue to utilize the Accelerated Examination Program to receive accelerated examination of important inventions in the future.
