Patent term adjustment (PTA) is awarded for essentially two kinds of delay during prosecution, which are based on two sub-sections in the America Invents Act (AIA). One guarantees prompt responses from the U.S. Patent and Trade Office (PTO) called A-delay. The other guarantees no more than three years of patent application pendency, excluding certain delays caused by the applicant which are called B-delays. Recently, a split developed regarding the correct way to calculate and award B-delays.
Click here to view the full text of this article.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.