[Patentpractice] Paper files

[David Boundy]

Different question.  I'm not asking "how long."   I'm asking "what form."

If I have electronic (or the patent office has electronic file wrapper) is
there any reason to keep paper?  Obviously if there's correspondence
between me and the client that isn't in the file wrapper and it could
conceivably be helpful to my client, that paper I have to keep.  But that
leaves an awful lot of paper for which, it seems to me, I can rely on the
PTO's electronic files, and throw it out.

On Wed, May 22, 2024 at 11:17 AM Leigh T <esthorne at gmail.com> wrote:

> I thought the rule of thumb for keeping records was life of the patent
> plus 7 years,
> because a patent infringement action may be brought up to 6 years after
> the patent expires
> (so I guess you could calendar the exact date 6 years later).  I suppose
> someone
> might discover infringement even after that and bring suit but it seems
> very unlikely.
> Google says fraud or concealment of infringement does not extend the
> statute of limitations....??
>
> On Wed, May 22, 2024 at 4:38 AM David Boundy via Patentpractice <
> patentpractice at oppedahl-lists.com> wrote:
>
>> What are you doing with paper files for patents that issued years ago and
>> for which no continuation is pending?   Do we have any duty to keep those
>> old paper files, if there's an IFW available?   For pre-AIA cases, the
>> pre-filing correspondence is valuable to show diligence in constructive
>> reduction to practice.  So I will keep that in any event.  But what about
>> the rest?  Can I send it to the recycle?
>>
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