Marshall, Gerstein & Borun are the patent attorneys on record,...

Marshall, Gerstein & Borun are the patent attorneys on record, meaning they have been engaged by OBJ from the outset of the oral care patent application process. In that capacity, they act on behalf of and in the best interests of OBJ in pursuing the application.

"Objections" to date in relation to this patent application have been made by the United States Patent Office. The patent "examiner" assigned to consider the application has a primary function of considering the 'novelty' of what has been submitted by OBJ (through their patent attorneys) and taking objection to aspects of the invention which do not appear to be novel. This is in accordance with patent laws of all countries that have patents. The patent office examiner is obliged to only approve patent applications for inventions that are sufficiently "novel". The are very particular in their examinations because, if they grant the application, the patent holder gets a 20 year monopoly. It runs counter to common sense to give them a monopoly on something that has already been invented. The main job of examiner is to compare previously published inventions ("prior art" as it is called) with the specifications of the invention submitted by the applicant. Inevitably, and why this whole process takes so long, there will be nit-picking by the examiner and proposed amendments by the applicant over a period of time until finally the examiner is satisfied that the invention is sufficiently specific and novel in order to grant the patent. These are the "objections" to which smac and abdm refer. Throughout this process, Marshall, Gerstein & Borun have essential been OBJ's mouthpiece. I think the point abdm was making was that these guys are the best mouthpiece in town.

In the application process, it is also possible for third parties (e.g. rivals of OBJ or their partners) to object. Such third party objections will be disclosed on the filed (the USPTO website) and I have yet to see any. So objections to date at this stage have really only been coming from the patent office examiner. But, as I have said in a previous post, it appears we have neared the completion of this and the oral care patent could be granted very very very soon. At which point, I do wonder whether we will see as GSK announcement regarding the OBJ toothbrush.

J