Patents
Proven Track Record
Michael F. Petock personally handles patent matters at Petock & Petock, LLC and he is experienced and adept at filing all of the various types of applications securing protection in the United States and various foreign countries. He has extensive experience in such matters.
Michael F. Petock holds an electrical engineering degree, took advanced chemistry courses and attended medical school for three years and has a broad range of experience in electrical, mechanical, chemical, life sciences and computer science arts. He also co-founded and chaired the Intellectual Property Section of the Pennsylvania Bar Association and is a past chair of the Civil Litigation Section of the Pennsylvania Bar Association and a past chair of the Computer Practice Committee of the Philadelphia Intellectual Property Law Association.
Michael F. Petock regularly counsels clients in areas relating to the protection of inventions. He regularly performs searches for clients evaluating likelihood of obtaining patent protection on inventions, whether there is infringement of another’s patent, validity of patents and the state of the art. He also regularly prepares and prosecutes patent applications in the United States and around the world. These include the filing of provisional applications, regular utility applications and design applications covering designs. Michael F. Petock represents clients in all matters in the Patent and Trademark Office including appeals in the Patent Office and appeals to Courts from Patent Office proceedings. The firm handles all matters relating to patents including intellectual property audits, due diligence investigations, negotiation and drafting of patent licenses and assignments, including assignments where there is a payout over a number of years.
With respect to litigation Michael F. Petock chaired the Civil Litigation Section of the Pennsylvania Bar Association and enforces patents and defends against patent infringement claims in the Courts.
Patent Primer:
A patent may be obtained on any new and useful man-made invention. In other words, anything under the sun made by man which is new and not obvious in view of what has been known or done in the past is patentable per the United States Supreme Court. In order to obtain a patent, the invention must not only be new but also not obvious in view of what has been done in the past.
There are several types of patent applications that may be filed:
What is normally referred to as a patent application is sometimes referred to by patent practitioners as a Utility Patent Application. Such an application may be filed for any new and useful process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter. The term of a patent issuing on such an application is twenty years from the filing date.
A Provisional Application may be filed for the same subject matter as a Utility Application. However, a Provisional Application is never examined by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and never issues as a patent. It automatically expires one year after its filing date. However, it is a useful means of establishing an early filing date, particularly where the inventor may be about to use, sell or disclose his or her invention in such a manner that it could become a prior art problem either with respect to the inventor filing a U.S. application or a foreign application. The Provisional Application is also useful in establishing an early filing date where there is a “race” to the Patent Office regarding the development of new lines of technology in a particular industry. A regular Utility Patent Application may be filed within one year and claim the benefit of the early filing date of the Provisional Application.
A Design Patent Application is useful for protecting the ornamental aspects or the appearance of an article of manufacture. A Design Patent does not protect functional concepts. An example may be the filing of a Design Application to protect the ornamental appearance of a new chair, but not a functional feature such as improved back support or adjustability.
A patent resulting from a U.S. Application only provides protection in the United States. If protection is desired in foreign countries, an application must be filed in the foreign countries in which protection is desired directly, or through the Patent Cooperation Treaty route. If such an application is filed within one year of the U.S. filing date, the U.S. filing date may be accorded to the foreign application. In other words, it is possible to get the benefit of your U.S. filing date, if certain steps are taken and an application is filed in a foreign country either directly or by means of a Patent Cooperation Treaty Application within one year of the U.S. filing date.
