Posts Tagged: "pro bono"

The Bill Carpenter Story: The Path to a Granted United States Patent

We started working with California Lawyers for the Arts (CLA), a nonprofit serving as statewide administrator for the California Inventors Assistance Program (CIAP). The firm assisted Bill Carpenter. Carpenter applied to CIAP for assistance with a patent application already filed, which had received a final rejection… The CIAP presents a valuable opportunity for patent practitioners to make a big difference in an inventor’s life. It allows patent practitioners to utilize the skill sets in their practice area and provides a feeling of reward upon obtaining a positive outcome for low income and under resourced individuals. We highly encourage practitioners to consider volunteering through their regional patent pro bono programs.

USPTO Patent Pro Bono Program Chicago Hub Now Available

If the attorney accepts the inventor, the match is made and the inventor is advised to contact the attorney. The attorney and client sign an engagement letter, and the Hub and inventor sign a referral agreement, setting out the inventor’s obligations in order to continue in the program. Some of those obligations include an agreement to cooperate with the attorney, to meet deadlines, to respond promptly to requests for information, and to inform the Hub if there is a significant change in income. The attorney is offered the opportunity to have a Chicago-Kent student work with him or her and the inventor at no cost to the firm.

Pro Bono Efforts by Fish & Richardson Yield Clemency Grants by President Obama

Fish & Richardson announced that it has obtained clemency for five pro bono clients the firm represented through the firm’s participation in The Clemency Project. The Clemency Project is a major initiative launched by the American Bar Association and various other public interest groups in cooperation with the Department of Justice to seek sentence commutations from President Obama for non-violent, low level drug offenders who have already served at least 10 years of lengthy federal prison terms. Fish attorneys contributed over 1,800 pro bono hours to help identify potential candidates for clemency and to prepare individual clemency petitions for those eligible prisoners. Three of those commutations were announced in the past two months; two were announced last week.

Upper Midwest Jazzed Up About Expansion of Patent Pro Bono Program

When Section 32 of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act became law in fall 2011, the USPTO began working with intellectual property law associations across the country to establish pro bono programs designed to assist financially under-resourced independent inventors and small businesses secure patent protection for their inventions. Minnesota was the first state to establish a program, and now joins the growing list of programs expanding to cover nearby states. The efforts of those programs, in conjunction with the USPTO, has been astounding: within the past ten months, the number of states now having access to a patent pro bono program has more than doubled.

Patent Pro Bono Program and Micro Entity Status

The Patent Pro Bono Program provides free legal assistance to inventors of modest means who are interested in securing patents to protect their inventions. The Program is a product of the America Invents Act (AIA). Under this legislation the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office was called upon to begin working with intellectual property law associations across the country to establish programs to assist financially under-resourced independent inventors and small businesses. Then, in February 2014, the President issued an Executive Action calling for expansion of the pro bono programs originally set up under the AIA into all 50 states. As a result of the Executive Action, new pro bono programs have been created, and many of the existing programs have expanded their coverage to additional states.