Publication of patents

Fig. 1. Procedures for publication of patent documents. Publications are shown in boldface. Dotted lines indicate events that may take place before a national appHcation has been filed or after a patent is granted. Dashed lines indicate events that take place only when PCT filing is chosen.

In the case of any apparent conflict in interpretation, federal laws take priority over federal rules in terms of judicial authority. Patent rules can be typically recognized by their numbers. They begin at 1.1 and currently proceed up to 1.997. The patent rules outline the specific details and requirements that the USPTO has for the many different functions that it carries out with applicants/patentees. For example, rule 1.121 covers the USPTO s policy regarding the publication of patent applications. 

In keeping with the worldwide patent law harmonization effort, the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a Bill in 1997 requiring the publication of Patent Applications in 18 months the 1997 House version did, however, carry an amendment exempting individual inventors (not companies) and Universities. 

The early publication of patent filings (18 months from first filing) gives both you and competitors an early awareness of each other s technical targets/interests—and potential patent blocks. Be as well informed as they will be ... 

We conclude this chapter and wrap up the last three chapters with a few remarks about the application of the ideas contained herein to polymer technology. Chapters 2-4 have been concerned with various aspects of the mechanical states of polymers. The opinion was expressed in Chap. 1 that if polymers did not possess the mechanical properties they have, this whole class of compounds might be relegated to the category of laboratory curiosities. On the basis of any number of criteria-the number of scientists employed, the number of industries involved, the number of publications released, the number of patents issued—polymer science proves to be very viable indeed. 

The commercial interest in epoxide (epoxy) resins was first made apparent by the publication of German Patent 676117 by I G Farben in 1939 which described liquid polyepoxides. In 1943 P. Castan filed US Patent 2 324483, covering the curing of the resins with dibasic acids. This important process was subsequently exploited by the Ciba Company. A later patent of Castan covered the hardening of epoxide resins with alkaline catalysts used in the range 0.1-5% This patent, however, became of somewhat restricted value as the important amine hardeners are usually used in quantities higher than 5%. 

Considerable interest was placed on 2-vinylfuran in the years 1930-1950 and a number of patents and publications on its polymerization and copolymerization appeared. This work was aimed at exploring the potential of the new polymer and concentrated therefore, on descriptive aspects of its preparation, properties and possible applications (for bibliographies on this topic, see3, 80 81)). Little was done to shed light on the more fundamental aspects of the systems studied until about 20 years ago. The present publication reviews these later studies. 

A major challenge is then to devise conditions so as to maximize grafting and minimize or control these side reactions. Some discussion of many of these parameters is provided in the reviews mentioned above. It is significant that many recent publications and patents in the area of reactive extrusion relate, not to the development of new reactions or processes, hut to the selection of operating parameters. 

Since the publication of these articles no major breakthroughs in erosion, or rather erosion prevention, have been made. However, several patents claiming methods and means of minimizing gun barrel erosion have appeared recently. These are abstracted below ... 

Access to Practice. Publications and patents on the batch mass process are limited. Bishop s book CD contains the most detailed description of the polymerization press and mass-suspension processes for PS and HIPS. Fong (16) presents an economic analysis of the press process based on Bishop s description. Patent references are few for the batch-mass process the 1939 Bakelite patent on transfer of prepoly syrup to chambers or containers is of historical interest (17). 

The problem of carpet recycling is considered and the different methods being proposed or commercially utilised are discussed. The main component of the carpet waste is fibres of nylon-6 and nylon-66. The review of the literature includes a limited amount of journal publications, which focus primarily on fundamental aspects, and a large number of patents, which describe the available technologies. The most promising recycling techniques (depolymerisation, extraction, melt blending and mechanical separation) are described. 48 refs. 

Suitable precautions should be taken in utilizing this procedure, since substantial quantities of the volatile, known carcinogen, chloromethyl methyl ether, as well as the volatile and flammable methyl chloride, form under the reaction conditions. While intermediates like 15 and 16 have been postulated in a number of publications and patents in this area, no experimental evidence has been reported that describes the presence or foimation of detectable quantities of these species. 

B. Phosphonomycin.—Since the publication of the synthesis of (48), which was described in last year s Report, numerous patents have been filed of syntheses of this antibiotic. The isomerization of the trans-... 

Bayer [199-203] has claimed in a series of patents a number of aryl sulfonyl esters as cannabinoid agonists for the treatment and prophylaxis of neurodegenerative diseases. Following on from this a number of publications detailing the in vitro and in vivo profiles on two of these compounds, BAY 38-7271 (317) and BAY 59-3074 (318), have been published. 

Shortly after Burkhard s publication, a patent by Clark claimed the synthesis of soluble polysilanes, but since this work was never published it was somewhat overlooked. See H. A. Clark,... 

The synthesis, spectral properties, and applications of symmetrical as well as unsymmetrical, hydrophobic oxo-squaraine probes for noncovalent interaction with proteins, lipids, cells, and other high-molecular-weight analytes are described in numerous publications and patents [52, 57, 58]. 

Over the last two decades, patents have played an increasingly important role in international trade and the protection they afford has been extended. Yet parallel to this, economic research on the impact of patents has been emphasizing that this is only one of the mechanisms for encouraging innovation. Furthermore, the extension of patent protection in publicly funded research is bearing fruit. 

Pharmaceutical innovation has made a decisive contribution to the reduction of mortality and the improvement of quality of life. The role of patents in providing incentives for innovation has been crucial. Yet at the same time there are limitations that need to be overcome in the future. Here we will mention just two examples orphan drugs and parallel imports. Patents do not offer incentives to develop drugs for low-prevalence diseases, known as orphan drugs. Governments are sometimes faced with the option of public production, as the private sector does not invest in them. Yet these would be precisely the cases in which experiments would be conducted with new models for promoting innovation, as discussed in this chapter. 

Three submarkets of the pharmaceutical market can be distinguished innovative patented products sold by prescription, products whose patent has expired and are sold by prescription, and products sold without a prescription. The public regulation of prices in the first of these submarkets, and often also in the second, is a fact that can be observed in most Western countries, with certain notable exceptions such as the USA. Concern about the particular characteristics of the pharmaceutical market (for example, the existence of patents and the pharmaceutical industry s rate of return), together with the desire to provide the majority of the population with access to medicines, regardless of their ability to pay (in many countries the public sector is the main buyer in this market), has led to the fairly widespread adoption of more or less strict price intervention and control policies for pharmaceuticals. 

In response to this biological data, there has been an active interest in the medicinal chemistry community to develop ACC inhibitors for the treatment of metabolic disorders. This chapter begins by briefly describing notable efforts in the ACC literature prior to 2009. The bulk of the chapter focuses on publications and patents that have appeared in 2009-early 2010. Finally, available data showing the efficacy of ACC inhibition in long-term studies is discussed. 

There are distinct advantages of these solvent-free procedures in instances where catalytic amounts of reagents or supported agents are used since they provide reduction or elimination of solvents, thus preventing pollution at source . Although not delineated completely, the reaction rate enhancements achieved in these methods may be ascribable to nonthermal effects. The rationalization of microwave effects and mechanistic considerations are discussed in detail elsewhere in this book [25, 193]. A dramatic increase in the number of publications [23c], patents [194—203], a growing interest from pharmaceutical industry, with special emphasis on combinatorial chemistry, and development of newer microwave systems bodes well for micro-wave-enhanced chemical syntheses. 

---