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| FROM THE PRESIDENT ... |
Ron Reardon
I am amazed at the incredible value afforded by the
2005 NAPP Annual Meeting in San Francisco. The Short Course, Nuts and Bolts of
Patent Prosecution, was chock-full of nuggets that I could use in my practice.
Many were the times that I wrote: “Ron, you need to put this tip into practice.”
My heart-felt thanks to all the presenters and organizers of the meeting for
doing a superb job.
The speakers at the Annual Meeting provided timely updates on patent practice
and numerous useful tips. It was great to have two distinguished USPTO
representatives in attendance, namely, John Doll and Joni Chang. Joni Chang did
an outstanding job presenting the Patent Office Rule Package Update, while John
Doll’s presentation really helped me understand the Sisyphus-like effort that
they continually make at the PTO. Notably, both John and Joni provided their
contact information to the audience. If you missed this year’s meeting, make a
note to yourself to be sure to attend the 2006 meeting in the Washington, D.C.
area—you will find it to be good value for your money.
The first initiative in my three-point vision for NAPP®, i.e., visibility,
credibility, and connectivity (as outlined in my message last month), was to
recommend to the Board that NAPP® apply for professional membership in the
United Inventors’ Association (UIA). The Board approved this and NAPP® is now a
Professional Member of UIA. For those of you who are not familiar with this
organization, UIA, which was incorporated as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization
in 1990, is a national umbrella organization for local inventor organizations
around the country that has actively worked to build and strengthen the
infrastructure of the independent inventor community (further information on UIA
is available at www.uiausa.com).
UIA has graciously offered all practitioner members of NAPP® a 50% discount off
the annual fee of $150 for a listing on UIA’s Patent Practitioners Locator
directory of patent practitioners who deal with independent inventors
(http://www.uiausa.org/Services/PatentPractitioner.htm). To receive the
discount, contact Pat Lougher (PatLougher@aol.com) and identify yourself as a
NAPP® member.
Since a significant number of NAPP® members work with independent inventors, I
envisioned NAPP’s membership in the UIA as an effective way to increase our
visibility and connectivity. A NAPP-sponsored ad to appear in UIA’s newsletter
will point their members to the Find a NAPP® Practitioner box on the NAPP Web
site (www.napp.org). (By the way, if you have not yet listed yourself on the
NAPP Web site, you can go to the Member Center where you can update your profile
and then check the box next to “Check to be listed in "Find A Practitioner"
Practitioner members only.”)
Executive Director Joy Bryant and I had extensive discussions at the Annual
Meeting as to other tactical initiatives that will add to the value of your
NAPP® membership. You will see more on this in future issues of The Disclosure®.
That reminds me: special thanks to David Robeson for his top-notch work as
editor of our newsletter.
Finally, for those of you who have entered the fray as solo practitioners, or
are seeking to establish your practice in other ways, I have two metaphors to
share with you: 1. any new effort is similar to planting English ivy: the first
year it is sleeping; the second year it is creeping; the third year it is
leaping; and 2. with any new business venture where you are giving a continuous
100% smart effort, you will get a 20% return on the first 80% of that effort;
you will get an 80% return on the last 20% of that effort.
An excellent way to boost your effectiveness as a patent practitioner is to take
full advantage of what NAPP® has to offer: the Short Course, the Annual Meeting,
the Regional Chapter Meetings, the Web site, the Patent Practice Forum, etc. By
engaging and getting involved, you will see real results in your practice.
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| PRACTICE NOTES |
New Central Fax Number
The USPTO has announced that as of
July 15, 2005, there is a new Central Fax Number. That number
is: 571-273-8300. Faxes sent to the old number will be routed to
the new number until September 15, 2005. After September 15, 2005, the
old number will no longer be in service.
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Update on Patent
Law Reform Bill
The Patent Law Reform Bill, HR 2795,
failed to move out of the subcommittee before Congress adjourned for its
summer recess. A substitute amendment to the Patent Reform Act of
2005 has been circulating but markup is postponed until after Labor Day.
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| NAPP.ORG WEB SITE FEATURES |
NAPP®
E-mail Discussion Lists Our e-mail discussion lists
have been quite informative. If you are not receiving the e-mails or are
having problems posting to the list, contact Kevin Grierson at:
complaints@napp.org for assistance. |
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| MEMBER ARTICLES | The views expressed herein are solely those of the author and may not necessarily be supported by the NAPP, its members, officers, or directors.
The Disclosure®
welcomes the submission of articles
on topics related to US and foreign patent practice. To submit an
article
to The
Disclosure®, please send
it as
an e-mail attachment to editor@napp.org.
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| | EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE | Joy L. Bryant, Esq.
It was truly a pleasure to meet more of our West coast members at the
2005 Annual Meeting in San Francisco. The weather was also a welcome
relief to those of us who came from warmer climates.
The new officers met with the board of directors and had a very
productive meeting where goals were set for the next year. In sum, the
board will aim to increase membership and provide more forums as sources of
information for our members. We also hope to add resources and
programs that will cater to the needs of our corporate practitioner members.
Louis Hoffman was appointed NAPP's official Government Affairs Liaison.
Louis will act as our central point of contact with respect to legislative
and governmental issues. If you would like to comment on this issue, please submit your comments on our
Contact Us page.
More members have begun to sign-up for the Certification Program.
By being certified, you are agreeing to a standard of conduct above the
minimum standard required by the USPTO. In particular, you are agreeing to
stay educated and informed by completing a minimum of 8 certification
credits per year. For more information about the certification
program, click on certification program in the left tool bar in the
member
center. |
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| ANNUAL MEETING UPDATE | San Francisco, July 16-19, 2005
The 2005 Annual Meeting was attended by 85 people. The Short Course was
attended by 50 people. Those attending the short course and meeting found
the program to be very informative.
Proceedings from the 2005 Annual Meeting will remain available until
September 30. To purchase the proceedings on CD, click
here.
Annual Meeting
Sponsors
Thank you to our Annual Meeting Sponsors:
Saturday Box Lunch - PCTFILER
Monday Breakfast - Law Offices of H.K. Acharya and Company
Monday Reception - National Patent Services
Tuesday Morning Break - Rouse & Co. International
Tuesday Luncheon - Heath Lambert and Dominion Insurance Services
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| REGIONAL CHAPTER HAPPENINGS | Georgia The Georgia Regional Chapter has scheduled its next meeting for
September. Hayden Gregory, lobbyist for the ABA, will give an update on
the Patent Law Reform Bill. For more details and to register, click here. |
| New Jersey
The next meeting
will take place in November. A speaker and location are needed. |
| San Francisco| The
San Francisco Bay Area Regional Chapter will hold its next meeting in
October. |
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| MEMBER BENEFITS |
Professional Liability
Insurance|
In this article, Larry Hilton addresses these issues: 1. Why buy
insurance?
2. What limits of liability are appropriate?
3. How does coverage apply to claims which arise out of work performed
before policy inception?
4. How does tail coverage work?
Contact Larry Hilton for details at: 925-313-9977. |
| PCTFILER | Ken Ropke is the contact for the PCTFILER program. Ken can be reached at: 516-770-1973. |
| ICO Global Patent Search The ICO Suite of patent research solutions are available to NAPP Members at a substantial discount. Log on to the NAPP® Member Center for more information about any of these programs.
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