Tag: legal notice

Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting

What is the Beneficial Ownership Information Report?

Beneficial Ownership Information Report

The Beneficial Ownership Information Report, which went into effect on January 1, 2024, is authorized by the 2021 National Defense Authorization (Pub.L. No. 116-283, 134 Stat. 338). It contains anti-money laundering provisions and also includes the Corporate Transparency Act.

It is the United States Department of the Treasury that enforces the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA).

Unless a company has an exemption from the CTA, the company must file a Beneficial Ownership Information Report (BOIR) with the Department of the Treasury.

What Entities Must File The Beneficial Ownership Information Report

As a general rule, reporting companies are corporations, limited liability companies or professional limited liability companies that have filed one or more documents with a State’s Secretary of State or a similar office of an Indian Tribe.

A reporting company can be a domestic or a foreign jurisdiction company and must file a BOIR.

What Entities Are Exempt From Filing The BOIR

There are some business entities who are exempt from filing the Beneficial Ownership Information Report. They include:

1 Securities reporting issuer

2 Governmental authority

3 Bank

4 Credit union

5 Depository institution holding company

6 Money services business

7 Broker or dealer in securities

8 Securities exchange or clearing agency

9 Other Exchange Act registered entity

10 Investment company or investment adviser

11 Venture capital fund adviser

12 Insurance company

13 State-licensed insurance producer

14 Commodity Exchange Act registered entity

15 Accounting firm

16 Public utility

17 Financial market utility

18 Pooled investment vehicle

19 Tax-exempt entity

20 Entity assisting a tax-exempt entity

21 Large operating company

22 Subsidiary of certain exempt entities

23 Inactive entity

When Must File The BOIR Be Filed

For a company created before January 1, 2024, the BOIR must be filed by December 31, 2024. For a company created after January 1, 2024, the BOIR must be filed with 90 days of the company’s creation.

If your company needs assistance with its BOIR, please contact Business Patent Law.

Ask Us Anything… about Intellectual Property!

If you or your business are located in the greater Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Lexington, or Louisville standard metropolitan statistical areas and have a topic or question you would like Business Patent Law, PLLC to address in the blog, please send us an email.

Business Patent Law, PLLC provides intellectual property and business counsel for businesses and companies.  If you need assistance, please contact Business Patent Law, PLLC.

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USPTO Notice to Correct Application Papers -Patent Law

Notice to Correct Application Papers

What is a Notice to Correct Application Papers?

The notice means United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has found an issue with the  filing (the way the paperwork looks, or what’s included in, or a clarification is needed your application) and is asking you to correct them and resubmit. Your time in which to do so is limited, if you want to retain the original filing date (and we know you want to keep that earliest date!)

A Notice to Correct Application Papers can be issued anytime during the pendency of a Nonprovisional Patent Application, but it will usually be sent shortly after your Patent Application is filed.

Your Filing May Be Considered “Informal”

Section 506 of the USPTO Manual of Patent Examining Procedure reads:

“III. INFORMAL APPLICATIONS

An application is informal if it is typed on both sides of the paper, or is not permanent, legible, or reproducible. If such informalities are timely corrected, the application is given the filing date on which the original informal papers were filed.

OPAP accords a filing date, as of the date indicated by the “Office Date” stamp (see MPEP 505), to application papers which include a specification containing a description and at least one claim (nonprovisional applications filed under 37 C.F.R. 1.53(b) prior to March 18, 2013 and design applications), and a drawing, if necessary under 35 U.S.C. 113 (first sentence) and 37 C.F.R. 1.53(b), but are informal because they do not comply with the rules or notices. In such applications, OPAP will send a Notice (e.g., Notice to File Corrected Application Papers) requiring correction of the informality. Failure to correct the informality within the specified time results in abandonment of the application.”

Case Study: The Situation

  • Our company’s Dallas R&D department filed a US Provisional Patent Application for one the company’s electromechanical gadgets. Before the expiration of the Provisional Patent Application, our company filed a US Nonprovisional Patent Application claiming the benefit of the US Provisional Application. Our in-house patent attorney located at our principal office in Houston had previously used this strategy to procure several US Patents.
  • Among other things, the Nonprovisional Patent Application included: an Abstract, Claims, a Specification and black and white line Drawings.
  • After filing the Nonprovisional Application, the USPTO generated a Notice to File Missing Parts because one of the inventor’s Declarations was missing from the as-filed Application. After receiving the Notice to File Missing Parts, our in-house counsel timely supplied the missing inventor’s Declaration to the USPTO.
  • Over the subsequent three and one-half years, our in-house counsel argued back and forth with the Patent Examiner, and eventually, the Examiner issued a Notice of Allowance for our electromechanical gadget Nonprovisional Patent Application.
  • More than a month after receiving the Notice of Allowance, the Examiner issued a Notice to File Corrected Application Papers.

Our Company’s Notice to Correct Application Papers

The Notice, in part, read:

“Notice of Allowance Mailed

This application has been accorded an Allowance Date and is being prepared for issuance. The application, however, is incomplete for the reasons below.

Applicant is given two (2) months from the mail date of this Notice within which to respond. This time period for reply is extendable under 37 CFR 1.126(a) for only two additional MONTHS.

The informalities requiring correction are indicated in the attachment(s). If the informality pertains to the abstract, specification (including claims) or drawings, the informality must be corrected with an amendment in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121…

Figure numbers are missing or duplicated. FIGS 21-24.”

Notice to Correct Application Papers: Our Next Steps

Since our company had never received a Notice to Correct Application Papers, we looked to a law firm to manage this matter for us. Amended Drawings were filed and the Patent issued in due course.

Do You Need Help From a Lawyer Specializing in Patent Law?

If you have received a Notice to Correct Application Papers, or have other questions or concerns about filing and protecting your intellectual property, we are here for you. General or in-house counsel is great for many of the legal questions or tasks your company may need, but questions about working with the Patent and Trademark Office and responding to their notices, may require someone with more specialized experience.

Protect Your Valuable Intellectual Property

If your enterprise needs legal assistance procuring/managing/enforcing your Patent Applications, Patents of Trademarks/Service Marks, please contact Business Patent Law, PLLC.

Business Patent Law, PLLC provides intellectual property and business counsel for businesses and companies.

If you would like to stay up-to-date with news that impacts your business and intellectual property, sign up for Business Patent Law’s Monthly Mailer™ newsletter.

Patent Infringement Cease and Desist Letter

Patent Infringement: The Cease and Desist Letter

What is Patent Infringement?

Patent infringement is similar to trespassing on private real estate. A deed for real property determines the real property’s boundary and what constitutes a trespass. In a similar vein, Patent claims define the intellectual property boundary of the Patent and what establishes an infringement.

Patent infringement is defined in United States Code Section (U.S.C.) 271. In part, Section 271 reads:

“Infringement of Patent (a) Except as otherwise provided in this title, whoever without authority makes, uses, offers to sell, or sells any patented invention, within the United States or imports into the United States any patented invention during the term of the patent therefor, infringes the patent.”

Patent Infringement Damages

Patent infringement damages are defined in U.S.C. 284 which, in part, reads:

“Upon finding for the claimant the court shall award the claimant damages adequate to compensate for the infringement, but in no event less than a reasonable royalty for the use made of the invention by the infringer, together with interest and costs as fixed by the court. When the damages are not found by a jury, the court shall assess them. In either event the court may increase the damages up to three times the amount found or assessed. Increased damages under this paragraph shall not apply to provisional rights under section 154(d).”

What Happened to Our Business was Surprising

We received a letter from the legal department of Company ABC demanding payment of damages for our alleged sales of Company ABC’s patented gadget. Prior to receiving the letter, our business was not aware that Company ABC’s gadget was patented. What can we do?

How To Defend Against Allegations of Patent Infringement

  • Contact an experienced patent attorney.
  • Determine if the patent is in full force and effect and is owned either directly or indirectly by Company ABC. The USPTO Assignment Database gives notice to the world of ownership rights in assigned Patents.
  • Determine if the gadget was identified by the patent number as set forth in 35 U.S.C. 287(a). In part, 35 U.S.C. 287(a) reads, “In the event of failure so to mark, no damages shall be recovered by the patentee in any action for infringement, except on proof that the infringer was notified of the infringement and continued to infringe thereafter, in which event damages may be recovered only for infringement occurring after such notice.”
  • Calculate the expiration date of the Patent. The USPTO website includes a Patent Term Calculator to assist in determining if a Patent remains in full force and effect. Practicing the claimed subject matter of an expired Patent is not an infringement.
  • If there is no settlement agreement with company ABC, make no payments to Company ABC.
  • In this scenario, receiving a letter from the legal department of Company ABC instead of a law firm is unusual.

Business Patent Law, PLLC provides intellectual property and business counsel for businesses and companies. If you need legal assistance procuring and managing your intellectual property assets, please contact us.

If you would like to stay up-to-date with news that impacts your business and intellectual property, sign up for Business Patent Law’s Monthly Mailer™ newsletter.