Mark:
To answer your question about the patent issue process, after a 'notice of allowance' is given by the Patent and Trademark office, the issue fee must be paid within 3 months. This deadline cannot be extended by merely asking. Issuance can only be deferred by showing of good and sufficient reasons. Issuance can typically only be deeferred by a period of 1 month. Also, issuance can only be deferred after the issue fee has been paid. After the issue fee is paid, the patent issues typically within 2 weeks.
So, to answer MY own question, considering that the release was made on October 12, it is possible for the application to still not have issued (i.e., if the issue fee was paid on the last possible day, or if issuance was deferred). However, the patent should issue within the next couple of weeks, at the absolute latest.
We dont know when the notice of allowance was mailed, but it must have been before October 12. The date of mailing of the notice of allowance sets the 3 month deadline for filing the issue fee. That is, if the date of mailing of the notice of allowance is Oct 5, then the 3 month deadline is Jan 5.
Sorry I got all excited about this issue. For some reason I thought the release stating the patent was approved was made in september.
Vortex
|
