Posts Tagged: ethics
DOJ Brief to CAFC Slamming Apple Highlights PTAB Code of Conduct Problem
Andrei Iancu, the Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), has a real mess on his hands. This particular mess relates to the Patent …
Rules Governing Admission to the Bar for In-House Counsel
The issue of unauthorized practice of law is a concern for all attorneys, and something that periodically does catch up with patent attorneys. The typical scenario where …
A Story of Ethics and Optics: Former PTAB Judge Matt Clements Now Works for Apple
IPWatchdog recently learned that Apple, Inc. has hired former Administrative Patent Judge Matt Clements. Although Clements’ LinkedIn profile does not reflect the fact that he has left …
Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker Connected to World Patent Marketing Fraudulent Scheme to Bilk Inventors
In May 2018, Scott Cooper and his companies, World Patent Marketing Inc. and Desa Industries Inc., agreed to a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission that bans them …
Exclusive Interview: PTO Director Andrei Iancu and OED Director Will Covey on Practitioner Dues, CLE and Unauthorized Practice
The focus of this interview was OED generally, but more specifically why they Office felt it was necessary to begin charging annual dues to practitioners and what …
Federal Circuit Reverses PTAB Invalidation of Wireless Network Patent in Apple Cases Involving APJ Clements
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently issued a decision in DSS Technology Management v. Apple, which reversed an earlier decision by the Patent Trial …
Disbarred Patent Attorney Michael I. Kroll Still Practicing, No Comment from PTO
Despite being excluded from the practice of patent law before the USPTO, Kroll is openly continuing his practice. His website Invention.net is still up and running, …
What Patent Attorneys, Patent Agents and Law Firms Need to Know about Client Communications
Recently, however, the USPTO and the Federal Circuit have both clarified that a patent agent’s communications related to his or her authorized practice are protected in …
The Year in Patents: The Top 10 Patent Stories from 2017
It is that time once again when we look back on the previous year in preparation to close the final chapter of 2017 in order move fresh into …
3 Questions Lawyers Should Ask Themselves Now Regarding Alcohol
Attorneys have stressful jobs and many turn to alcohol as a form of self-medication to relax. Problem drinking is much higher for attorneys than for the public. …
PPAC meeting comes and goes with no discussion of PTAB conflicts of interest
At the May PPAC meeting Ruschke deferred questions on issues relating to possible conflicts of interest and specifically indicated the topic of conflicts would be discussed at …
6 Core Values and 5 Emotional Intelligence Skills Leading to Sound Ethical Decisions
Core values are key to avoiding ethical violations. This is because most ethics violations are not intentional. They occur because decisions are being made based on the …
Arbitrator’s ‘interpretation’ of unconscionable fee agreement gives Jenner & Block millions in unearned contingency fees
Oracle and Parallel Networks settled that arbitration in January 2013. So, more than four years after Jenner & Block lost the Oracle case and abandoned its client, they received …
Apple, APJ Clements and final written decisions: a lethal cocktail for patents
When just looking at the subset of final written decisions resulting from Apple petitions where APJ Clements was on the panel, 24 final written decisions deem all claims …
USPTO response to FOIA confirms there are no Rules of Judicial Conduct for PTAB Judges
The website link provided by the USPTO contains no rules of judicial conduct or codes of judicial conduct, which means that the USPTO has indirectly confirmed that …
