Honeycutt Shares Insights Regarding Patent Prosecution

Dr. Kimberly Honeycutt, JD '10, PhD, presented "What is Patent Prosecution?" on October 28, 2015. She was hosted by the Business and Transactional Law Center and the Washburn Intellectual Property Law Society. During her Lunch and Learn presentation to Washburn Law students, Honeycutt explained the importance of patents as a way to encourage and protect the labor connected with developing inventions and processes. Patent litigation resolves the question of whether a particular product will not infringe on someone else's patent. Honeycutt explained how a U.S. patent is acquired, starting with a provisional application that establishes a filing date and gives the filer one year to complete the application. She discussed how international patents are established through patent cooperation treaties. Finally, Honeycutt outlined the purposes and procedures for patent prosecutions that can determine whether a given product is sufficiently different from a patent.

Honeycutt is a Law, Patents & Compliance Counsel in the Animal Health Division at Bayer HealthCare. She has experience preparing and prosecuting both domestic and foreign patent applications.