Posts Tagged: "pli"

Wherever we go we always get a number of individuals who are currently in law school, have recently graduated law school or are engineers or scientists looking to change careers. During one of the breaks between sessions on day 1 here in San Francisco one of the students taking the course asked me a question that we receive quite a lot, which is this: once I pass the exam how do I learn to actually do this? Like so many things in life experience is the best teacher, but increasingly finding a job without some experience can be extremely difficult.

It has always been my belief that the PLI course is the best, and now I think there is absolutely no doubt. Yes, there are some competitors out there but how many other courses have two faculty members that are practicing patent attorneys and law professors? John and I both have a private practice and we have made legal education an important part of our careers. We are even patent attorneys, which might sound like an odd thing to tout but there are actually courses out there that don’t have patent attorneys developing the course and creating materials. The patent bar exam is hard enough as it is, the rules of patent practice are almost ridiculously archaic and you think you can take a patent bar course taught by someone who hasn’t ever even passed the exam let alone represented anyone in real life? Yeah, right. Think again.

Effective April 12, 2011, the USPTO has dramatically updated the patent bar examination. As a result, the PLI Patent Bar Review Course has been completely updated – overhauled really. We had already been working on updates to our materials based on the inevitable change in the exam moving from MPEP Rev. 4 to MPEP Rev. 8. We knew it was only a matter of time before a new revision of the MPEP was tested, so we have had MPEP Rev. 8 materials at the ready. The text and questions have been completely revised and our lectures re-done. We feel confident the PLI patent bar review course is simply the best!

Today Barner is here to talk to us about what is going on at the USPTO. She is discussing the USPTO Strategic Plan, which she was primarily responsible for pulling together during her tenure. She also went on to discuss appeals to the BPAI, the IT system overhaul, patent reform, patent politics, Microsoft v. i4i and much more. As a former Deputy Director we are getting not only the facts, but her opinions as well. An excellent, informative and candid presentation.

The demographics on users of social media can be surprising – a large percentage are over 35, and have six-figure incomes. These users have a lot of buying power and are often making the purchasing decisions for their households. Once they know this, clients can grasp the importance of both using social media proactively. But what is the risk? In the trade secret arena you could lose everything through inappropriate use by you or your employees, and the same is true in the trademark context as well.

I am really looking forward to these PLI programs in particular. I will be signed up to attend via webcast the programs I cannot make live, and I will be in in Chicago, IL in March for the Patent Bar Review Course and in New York City for the 5th Annual Patent Law Institute from February 17-18, 2011. If your firm is a privileged member you can attend these and all other PLI programs for free, with the exception of the Patent Bar Review Course.

In this edition of News, Notes & Announcements, the USPTO announces it has signed an agreement with the Russian Patent Office to act as an International Searching Authority; the USPTO announces expansion of the Patent Prosecution Highway; PLI’s Patent Litigation 2010 starts next week and will travel across the US with stops in Virigina, Atlanta, Chicago and New York; BIO is hosting a Technology Transfer Symposium next week in San Francisco; Howard University will hold an IP Empowerment Summit on November 5, 2010, aimed at trying to help indigent inventors — USPTO Director David Kappos will participate; and BlackWeb Technologies sues two computer giants — IBM and HP — on patents covering methods for transmitting information between a remote network and a local computer.

In this edition of News, Notes & Announcements, patent attorneys asked to participate in an inequitable conduct study, BIO seeks session proposals for 2011 Convention, Huffington Post and other popular press starting to report that patent backlog is costing jobs, the Second Circuit refuses en banc rehearing in reverse patent payments case and PLI sponsoring yours truly on a speaking tour.

Summer is almost over, but the Practising Law Institute still has some great Intellectual Property courses that all come with CLE credits. So whether you are looking for an excuse to take a trip to beautiful San Francisco, California, or the City that never sleeps, or you are looking for some great information and CLE credits via webcast, PLI has you covered. The remaining IP courses for Summer 2010 are all new and completely revised, with the exception of the extremely popular Claim Drafting & Amendment Writing workshop, which will still integrate recent changes and provide tons of practical learning.

Over the last month or so it has been made known to PLI that some law firms might be interested in me coming to the firm to give a talk or presentation on some hot patent related issue of the moment. It has also come to my attention that a number of firms have weekly or bi-weekly sessions already scheduled where one member of the firm is tasked with creating a presentation worthy of CLE credit for a “lunch and learn” presentation. I am happy to come to your firm to give such a presentation, and at no cost to your firm. All you have to do is let me speak for 5 minutes about PLI offerings, such as their CLE Seminars, Patent Bar Review Course and Treatises. I promise these 5 minutes won’t eat into any CLE worthy presentation I give, and will meet any requirements as agree upon so as to make sure attorneys attending get appropriate CLE credit.

Yet another day has come and gone without the United States Supreme Court issuing a decision in Bilski v. Kappos. According to the SCOTUS blog, Chief Justice Roberts announced that the Court will have its final opinions on Monday, June 28, 2010, and that the Court’s term will close with the exception of remaining Orders in pending cases. This is widely being interpreted as confirmation that Bilski will be issued on Monday, June 28, 2010, which admittedly seems extraordinarily likely, but call me crazy, I have a strange feeling something odd may be boiling behind the scenes.

What makes this “no Bilski day” at the Supreme Court particularly interesting and noteworthy is the fact that the Supreme Court did issue a terrorism and First Amendment decision in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project today, a decision that many if not most would have thought to be harder and more important than the Bilski case. Given that the Supreme Court has issued a decision in what society as a whole will undoubtedly view as a far more important decision than Bilski, and since Bilski has been on the Supreme Court docket since oral arguments back on November 9, 2009, it seems virtually assured that the decision will slip to the final day of the Court’s 2009 term, or it will be held over.

Eventually we are going to have a decision from the Supreme Court in Bilski v. Kappos, or we will know that the case will be held over until the next term of the Court, which beings in October 2010. The current Supreme Court term comes to an end on June 28, 2010, so something will soon happen worth discussing. PLI has selected a number of possible dates depending on when the Supreme Court hands down its long awaited decision.

And now a message from the shameless commerce division, brought to you by the #1 Patent Bar Review Course in the Nation… the PLI Patent Bar Review Course. PLI is offering a 20% discount for those who sign up to attend the Orange Country course in Costa Mesa, California. To take advantage of the 20% discount you need to call the PLI Patent Bar Review Hotline at 888.296.5973 by the close of business Eastern Time on Wednesday, May 26, 2010.

PLI is pleased to announce a new live course added to the schedule in conjunction with the Santa Clara University School of Law’s High Tech Law Institute. The Santa Clara course is scheduled for Monday, May 24, 2010 to Friday, May 28, 2010. The PLI Patent Bar Review course is not typically Monday through Friday, and there are always some that say they would prefer a Monday through Friday live course, so if that is your preference here is your chance.