Guide of Patent Protection

Patent term adjustments can be significant to an applicant because they extend the term of a patent. Consequently, they can serve to legally extend patent licenses, periods of infringement, and a barrier to entry into a market. Some practitioners, however, do not understand what triggers positive adjustments; partly because the rules are complicated and partly because challenges to adjustments calculated by the PTO are rare. Also, it is often overlooked that actions by an applicant can offset a positive term adjustment, even when those actions fully comply with U.S. Patent Laws, PTO rules, and widely-accepted practices and procedures. I submit, therefore, that it is not only prudent to understand what triggers a term extension but also to consider practices that minimize offsets to term extensions.

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