Posts Tagged: "aipla"

AIPLA is proud to announce that Executive Director Q. Todd Dickinson will be inducted into the IP Hall of Fame for 2012. The IP Hall of Fame was created in 2006 by Intellectual Asset Management magazine to identify and honor individuals who have helped to establish intellectual property as one of the key business assets of the 21st century.

The American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) is pleased to announce that Albert Tramposch, Administrator for Policy and External Affairs at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), willresume his former post as AIPLA Deputy Executive Director for International and Regulatory Affairs, beginning January 16, 2012.

On Friday, September 16, 2011, President Obama signed into law “The America Invents Act” (“AIA”) which passed the Senate on September 8, 2011, by a vote of 89-9. The AIA passed the House of Representatives on June 23rd by a vote of 304-117. The measure, which is the product of a seven-years-long legislative battle among patent policy stakeholders, changes how patents are obtained and enforced in the United States. Important reforms to patent law are incorporated into the AIA and, just as significantly, several controversial proposed changes were deleted from the AIA before final passage. This article is a play-by-play of the process and how it unfolded.

At an all-day session on April 14, members of the Committee gave serious consideration to a variety of amendments to the bill and concluded with an overwhelming, bi-partisan vote of 32-3 in support of the long-overdue improvements to the patent law. The Committee proceeding demonstrated the careful balancing of interests and the compromises necessary to address the concerns of the diverse stakeholders. While more work is yet to be done, the Committee’s effort represents encouraging progress.

H.R. 1473, the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011, is the legislation reflecting the compromise on the Continuing Resolution to fund the government for fiscal 2011. The letters point out that the provisions of the bill related to the USPTO appropriate $100 million less than the projected user fee revenues to be collected, essentially diverting that money to other government programs.

I found Terry to be extremely knowledgeable and very easy to talk to, which should probably read that I perceive her to be a patent geek just like me. A geek in a good way, of course. Those patent attorneys and agents reading know what I mean. We so enjoy what we do and so infrequently get to talk to anyone about it with anyone who really cares, so when we do the conversation is a blast. Terry Rea has been immersed in everything patents, from prosecution to opinions to interferences and litigation, and I get the sense that she loves patents and innovation. I thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with her.

Congress is at it once again, with the Senate Judiciary Committee reporting out a bill last week that remarkably resembles the bill that has been unable to gain any traction in the Senate for the last several years. That would suggest that the same fate is in store for this legislation. Not so fast! I have a suspicion that this year things are different and that we really could be on the cusp of patent reform. Whether that is for better or for worse will largely be in the eye of the beholder, but what is emerging feels different and I think we are closer to change, and perhaps an end to fee diversion, than we have been at any point over the last 6 years.

The Executive Director of the AIPLA, Q. Todd Dickinson, then took the stage to introduce a video that was dedicated to this year’s AIPLA Board of Directors’ Excellence Award. This year the award was given to the Honorable Chief Justice Paul R. Michel, who retired earlier this year. Dickinson explained the award was being given to him “in recognition of his extraordinary leadership and service to the United States Government and in particular his leadership of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit as Chief Judge while having a distinguished career marked by intellect, integrity, and an unwavering commitment to the administration of justice.”

Friday afternoon I attended the second day of the AIPLA annual meeting. I got to the Marriott Wardman Park hotel at 9:00 am and was there until after 11:00 pm, for a full day of activities. I met so many interesting people while there, including the current Chief Judge Randall Rader for the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit,…

Today is day two of the AIPLA conference at the Marriot Wardman Park hotel in Washington, DC. There are numerous people attending the conference this year, and topics of discussion and presentation are ranging from intellectual property procurement and enforcement in East Asia,to ethics, to multi-defendent patent litigation strategies, to best practices to mitigate trade secret litigation risks that arise from employee mobility and commercial dealings.

One question in particular that stood out to me was the question about hiring at the USPTO. Director Kappos was asked to give us an idea on what the plans are for hiring examiners to the USPTO. Kappos started with “We want YOU to come work for the USPTO.” Laughter abounded. Dickinson quickly picked up on this saying: “Uncle Sam wants YOU!” More laughter all around. Kappos went on to explain that they are seeking experienced, well seasoned patent attorneys to come work for the USPTO. They want to hire another 1000 examiners. Dickinson then joked “Ah, so you weren’t kidding when you said you wanted them to work for the USPTO?”

In this edition of News, Notes & Announcements, happy birthday wishes to IPWatchdog.com for celebrating our 11th year online and a heartfelt thank you to all our readers. Additionally, the TiVo patent used to sue Echostar, the litigation at question in the en banc review at the Federal Circuit, survives reexamination at the USPTO. Professor Thomas Field (UNH) publishes the 21st edition of his IP casebook, which is now online in royalty free version; the USPTO is hosting the National Trademark Expo this Friday and Saturday on campus in Alexandria; the USPTO is hosting the 15th Annual Independent Inventors Conference on November 4-5, 2010, and I will be there teaching two sessions of patent claim drafting; US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke visits the USPTO and the AIPLA will host is Annual Meeting next week.

In this edition of News, Notes & Announcements, the mother of all patent trolls, Acacia Research Corporation, scores two more licensing agreements, one with IBM the other with US Cellular. Samsung Electronics and Stanford Law School are combining forced to co-sponsor a patent prize for excellent writing about patent law, with real money awarded to the winner and runners-up; $10,000 and $5,000 respectively. AIPLA announced that David Kappos will give the keynote speech at the annual meeting on Thursday, October 21, and Judge Gajarsa will speak on Friday and Chief Judge Rader will participate in a panel on the amicus process. The Wall Street Journal is reporting about new challenges to cookies tracking our every move online, and BIO is the charter sponsor of a new weekly public affairs television program called BioCentury This Week, which premiered yesterday and is available on the web.

My interview with Q. Todd Dickinson, the current Executive Director of the AIPLA and former Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the Patent and Trademark Office, took place on August 19, 2010, in a conference room at AIPLA headquarters. In this final installment of the interview we discuss how current USPTO Director David Kappos is doing, whether his honeymoon period will ever end, whether there is any concern he will burn-out, and we discuss the AIPLA position on Three Track, plus the usual fun questions at the end.

In this second installment of my interview with current AIPLA Executive Director and former USPTO Director, Q. Todd Dickinson, we start out discussing pendency at the Patent Office. Dickinson tells me about the incentives he used to keep patent examiners as they matured into the level of experience where they are ready to really roll up their sleeves and become the work-horses that Office needs. We talk about the AIPLA position on the proposed Three Track Proposal now pending at the USPTO. We then moved into a very interesting discussion of patent reform, and a bombshell is dropped, at least in my opinion. I was surprised to hear Dickinson say that he does not think patent reform is dead for THIS legislative cycle. He says: “The clock’s running and, the plays have to be run a little faster,” but that he “can see a path forward once the Congress returns.” He goes on to point out that the American Inventors Protection Act was attached to an appropriations bill. Looking at what Congress has on its plate upon returning it looks like there are a lot of appropriations bills. Curious indeed!