**Correspondence From NENE Investor Relations Regarding Patents**
Yesterday afternoon I received this transmittal from NENE IR regarding the patent filings:
Many have posed questions with respect to their filing for patents,etc.....
Herein lies their response:
Regarding your earlier question regarding our patent filings, the patent process in both the United States and in foreign countries typically is a lengthy process spanning several years.
In the United States, after the initial filing of a patent application in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), an Applicant may have to wait anywhere from one to three years, or in some cases even longer, until the USPTO substantively reviews and commences examination of the patent application due to lengthy backlogs. The time until examination actually commences varies considerably on a case-by-case basis depending on the particular technology of the invention and the current backlog in the particular technology center at the USPTO that is tasked with examining the application. Even after the USPTO commences examination, the patent examination process can continue for another one-to-three years, and in some cases even longer, before an application issues as a patent. Generally speaking, most applications typically are at least initially rejected by the USPTO, and during this examination period, there can be several formal back-and-forth exchanges between the USPTO and the Applicant. For example, the USPTO may issue an Office Action rejecting the claimed invention as lacking novelty or being obvious over prior art in existence at the time of the invention. The Applicant is then provided with up to six months to file a formal Response to the USPTO Office Action to argue against the rejections and/or amend the claimed subject matter to distinguish over the applied prior art references in order to attempt to persuade the USPTO to withdraw the rejections. After the Applicant files a Response, the USPTO may take several more months until it reviews the application again, at which time the USPTO may maintain the previous rejections, raise new rejections, and/or indicate that some or all of the claimed subject matter is allowable. If an agreement on allowable subject matter cannot be reached, the Applicant may request to have prosecution continued, which can result in additional time until examination is continued and also additional time for further formal back-and-forth exchanges between the Applicant and the USPTO. Alternatively, the Applicant may file an appeal to request review of the rejections by the U.S. Patent Appeal Board, in which case the appeal process can continue for several more years, which also varies depending on the current backlog at the Patent Appeal Board. If the USPTO provides an indication that all or some of the claimed subject matter is allowable, the Applicant has the option of continuing to pursue protection for the rejected subject matter or permitting the allowable subject matter to pass to issue, in which case the Applicant may file a related application to continue prosecution of any remaining rejected subject matter or to pursue previously unclaimed or unexamined subject matter disclosed in the application.
As with the United States, the time period from the initial filing of an international application or a foreign application until issuance of a patent in a particular country can span over several years. For foreign patent protection, an Applicant may directly file individual patent applications in each country where protection is desired, or file an international application that provides an opportunity to enter the national stage in individual member countries within thirty or thirty-one months from the earliest filing date of an application directed to the invention, at which time the patent examination process in the particular country begins and can continue for one or more additional years.
Although a lengthy process, the patent process is necessary to pursue and obtain protection for, and to preserve the opportunity to pursue protection for, NENE’s intellectual property rights.
The Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) the company has with NREL does have provisions of confidentiality, however, according to the terms of our CRADA, we do retain the right to file patent applications and retain ownership of prosecuted patents related to our inventions. Available information regarding our CRADA may be found in our SEC filings, here is a direct link to the non-confidential sections of the CRADA: www.discountedgar.com/data/nene/filesUploaded/8ka472011.htm
The Patent development and Application filing process follows the normal course of USPTO acceptance, review, and examination. Until a Patent Application is fully prosecuted (approved), it remains confidential by the USPTO. Again, as stated previously, the USPTO patent process and the patent process in foreign countries is a lengthy process that may span several years. Upon full prosecution of a Patent Application by the USPTO, the Patent is published and in the public domain.
I've never claimed to have all the answers but feel i'm beginning to corner the market in questions worthy of solutions.
