Virtual IP Docketing
We offer IP expert paralegal support services to flawlessly handle your Patent Docketing process throughout the patent prosecution process so that you can complete all deadlines because a missed deal could lead to a rejection of your patent application and negatively impact your revenue. With our professional support structure, we protect your intellectual property rights end-to-end.
Package Inclusion: –
- Easy access to the Portfolio
- Help with the preparation of prosecution papers
- Assistance in building a patent portfolio
- End-to-end assistance
Free Call Back by our Expert
How to Begin a Patent Docketing
What is IP Docketing? Everything You Need to Know
How does IP docketing work? Before software development, docket administration was carried out manually using a diary. An oversized hardcover date book or a sizable wall calendar served as this diary’s shape. Legal secretaries submitted docket slips to record statutory deadlines on the firm’s due date monitoring diary or calendar.
Numerous Applications for Patents
IP owners formerly relied on law firms to satisfy these legal requirements, but more patent applications were submitted during the 1980s tech boom. As a result, there was a need to improve process management. The docket rules are necessary since deadlines are essential in statutory procedures like intellectual property.
A due date indicates that a portfolio is being handled effectively. Who should oversee owing dates, and what is the appropriate procedure for doing so? These are common questions. The strategic management of other intellectual expenses will suffer if due dates are the only priority.
Controlling Patent Applications
A system or method for controlling the patent application process is known as patent docketing. Since it is intrinsically difficult to organise the application process for several patents without a software package or system that automatically maintains track of the paperwork and deadlines involved, docketing is a crucial tool for law firms that handle patent applications.
Process of Applying for Patents
Docketing specialists are employed by most sizable patent law firms to oversee the docketing of patents. This is because such law firms frequently manage numerous patent applications concurrently. Before a patent is granted, a patent application may need to go through the USPO (U.S. Patent Office) for several years. Keeping track of the numerous statements, drawings, forms, papers, and filing dates is crucial as patent applications move through approval procedures (referred to as patent prosecution).
The significance of patent docketing
Patent docketing ensures that all deadlines are followed, and papers are appropriately labelled and filed (to facilitate simple retrieval). The filing of patent results in a significant amount of documentation. Each document must be given a name and file number when it arrives at a law firm, and the docketer is responsible for placing it in the appropriate section of the paper or electronic patent file.
Availability of Relevant Documents
Patent docketing ensures that each document is added to the company’s database so that attorneys can view all the critical papers in a patent application file and their due dates. For instance, patent attorneys must be aware of impending USPO document submission deadlines.
Every time a filing (or other) deadline is approaching, a docketing database monitors the due dates and notifies attorneys. When necessary, docketers send pertinent document copies that have been scanned to other legal firms.
IP Docketing’s importance
Docketing is essential to IP prosecution and necessary. Applications for patents or trademarks are subject to numerous deadlines. While some missed dates can be made up, some cannot. Such deadlines could result in the application being abandoned if they are disregarded. Even for recoverable dates, restarting the application is typically costly and time-consuming.