A recent Federal Circuit case on negative limitations provides some ammunition for applicants having trouble with written description rejections at the USPTO, especially when citing MPEP § 2173.05.

WRC’s patent application overcomes an examiner ignoring “configured to” limitations and redrafting claim elements to suit the rejection.

When you paraphrase claim elements in arguments, any perceived narrowing can open the door to the USPTO ignoring the your point.

The USPTO proposes electronic issuance of patents.

Read about how examiners use specification language against the applicant to turn alternatives into equivalents.

An application on a great new way to delivery easy and ready to use dough is found unpatentable because of a broad interpretation of “impact mixing.”

Make sure you know how to spot this common examiner tactic

Sometimes being too close to your drafting can lead to undesirable claim interpretations under BRI.

Know to how to push back against an examiner relying on an erroneous machine translation.

See how to recognize the difference between improper hindsight and “hindsight that is acceptable at the USPTO. Arguing improper hindsight when you do not have the right facts makes for an easy affirmance by the PTAB>