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| FROM THE PRESIDENT ... | Anthony P. Venturino, Esq.
Now that my term as the president of NAPP is coming to an
end, I am happy to say it has been a great time for NAPP. NAPP has almost
doubled in size during the past two years by adding patent agents and attorneys
as full voting members. Our Annual Meeting is still going strong, and I hope to
meet many of you there in San Francisco. Our San Francisco Bay Area and New
Jersey Regional Chapters are still active, and we have a new Georgia Regional
Chapter. As we grow, I hope that there will be more regional chapters. We have
created a NAPP patent practitioner certification program to complement our
professional liability program. We also ventured into specific topic-oriented
seminars by telephone conference to keep attendees abreast of important issues.
NAPP is going more and more electronic. The NAPP Web site
has been dramatically updated and improved to take advantage of new technology
and be more user-friendly. Our e-mail discussion lists still actively provide
our members with forums for discussing matters important to our practices.
Although it may be too early to tell, I believe electronic distribution of
The Disclosure®, and making it easier to pay for membership fees, meetings,
and other services by NAPP will also make all our lives easier.
NAPP also continues to be a strong voice in government
affairs. We are the most focused association of patent prosecutors in the US,
and bring a unique perspective to those that decide rule and law changes. We
submit meaningful comments to the Patent Office on proposed rule changes, and
notably to Congress on the recent proposed changes to the US patent statute.
Of course I did not do this alone. Without the
tireless efforts of Joy Bryant, our Executive
Director, none of this could have happened. The Eveready bunny has
nothing on her. However, at the risk of leaving someone out, I wish to thank
others who made this possible. Our current Directors
Scott Chambers, Kevin Grierson, Gary
Smith, and Kirk Wilson as well as my other officers
Ron Reardon, Sarah Smith, and
Michelle Stempien have been a great asset. At the same time, let us not forget
former officers and directors who kept me on the straight and narrow path in the
beginning of my term as president, namely Mark Buscher, Bart Singer, Martha
Taylor, and Joe Marasco. When we elect our new slate of officers this
summer, I expect you will bring in another stellar group. NAPP has had,
and will have, a great group of volunteers to keep it alive and growing and
meaningful. However, one last time I encourage those of you with an itch
to do something important for yourself and your profession to become more
active.
Although I will no longer be
president, you will not get rid of me that easily. I plan to be active in NAPP
and, together with our current and new volunteers, plan to help bring NAPP to
new heights in the years to come.
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FROM THE INCOMING PRESIDENT ...
G. Ron Reardon
Fellow Members of NAPP:
As incoming President of
NAPP, I envision a vibrant future for this growing organization. Since its
inception, NAPP has continued to build on an ever increasing foundation,
dedicated to supporting patent practitioners in their practices. As
President I will continue to build on the momentum generated by my
predecessors.
I will focus my energies on
three initiatives: visibility, credibility, and connectivity. This has been
a successful formula for my own practice, and I believe it can be leveraged
to take NAPP to the next level. With the help of the Executive Director,
the Board of Directors, the committees, and the membership, we will address
the following:
Visibility:
Increase the awareness of NAPP among non-member patent practitioners,
the USPTO, the Congress, individual inventors, businesses, other
professional organizations, and the press.
Credibility:
Position NAPP as the premier voice for evaluating the impact of
existing/proposed rule/law changes on individual inventors, patent
practitioners, innovation, and the economy.
Connectivity:
Connect practitioner members with the information they need for an
effective, profitable practice. Foster lasting relationships among
practitioner members. Create links from innovators to patent
practitioners. Develop effective, professional relationships with key
government and business decision makers and influencers.
My personal experience has
proven that by substantially increasing the value of membership, a
quantum leap in growth can be achieved and sustained. I eagerly anticipate
the challenges of guiding that growth and serving the membership to the best
of my abilities.
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| PRACTICE NOTES |
New Matter—Basis and Basics
By David J. Robeson, Ph.D.When amending a patent
application, whether by preliminary amendment or in response to an Office
action, it is important for the patent practitioner to have a thorough
understanding of what does, and does not, constitute new matter. The
addition of new matter to a patent application is proscribed by 35 USC §132.
However, not all matter added to the disclosure after the filing date of a
patent application is new matter. Click
here to access the article.
Foreign Patent Practice
In
which countries should you enter the national phase?
By Justin Simpson
There are many factors to be considered when choosing
where to enter the national phase. Selecting countries in which to
pursue patent protection should always be a business decision. By
considering where your business is now and where it might be in the future,
vis-ą-vis what a particular patented product means, and might come to mean,
to your business, you can make a decision about where to enter the national
phase based on sound commercial principles. For further
information about this topic, click
here.
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| NAPP.ORG WEB SITE FEATURES |
NAPP®
Member Center The NAPP® Member
Center enables members to manage their account information. By logging in
to the member center using your e-mail address as your ID and your personal
password, you can change your contact information, check-out member benefits,
and subscribe to the daily e-mail discussion forums. |
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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.
June has been a busy month for NAPP. In addition to making final
preparations for the upcoming Annual Meeting, NAPP's Government Affairs
Committee has been busy.
In the beginning of June, NAPP submitted comments to the USPTO's request
for comments regarding a proposed rulemaking. Our comments mainly
focused on language in the rulemaking that was vague and ambiguous. To
read these comments, click
here.
Louis Hoffman and I represented NAPP at a town hall meeting on patent
reform that was held at the National Academies of Science. This
meeting consisted of a series of presentations by various public groups.
We were disappointed by the under-representation of small entities. In
fact, the practitioner panel was comprised predominantly of practitioners who
represented large entities.
The Patent Law Reform Bill
was introduced on June 7, 2005. Key issues in the Bill involve moving
to a first-to-file system (which NAPP opposes) and the introduction of
opposition proceedings (which, without the second-window provision, NAPP supports ). NAPP intends to draft a new position paper in response to
the Bill that was introduced. NAPP also hopes to meet with
Congressional staff members if time permits.
NAPP was represented at the USPTO Biotechnology Customer Partnership
Meeting. It was at this meeting that Harry Moatz addressed the issue
of mandatory CLE for all patent practitioners. He said that it is
coming and will happen but probably not until 2007. Ironically, one of
the reasons for the delay is lack of funding.
The USPTO has a solicitation out for comments with respect to a green
paper on restriction reform. Comments are due by August 5.
This proposal is quite lengthy and contains a lot of content that needs to
be carefully reviewed. NAPP is looking for volunteers to help draft
the official comments. If you are interested, please contact us at napp@napp.org.
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| ANNUAL MEETING UPDATE | San Francisco, July 16-19, 2005
We have an important schedule change to note. Our luncheon will be on
Tuesday, July 19 with Acting Commissioner for Patents John Doll as the guest
speaker. Lunch on Monday will be on your own. This year's luncheon
is automatically included in the registration fee.
MCLE credit has been approved for both the Nuts & Bolts Short Course and the
Annual Meeting by CA, NC, PA, and VA.
NAPP® Certification Credit is available for both the Nuts
& Bolts Short Course (7.5 credits) and the Annual Meeting (10.5 credits).
To register for the Annual Meeting 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 New Jersey Regional Chapter met on June 22 at Genta. 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|
NAPP® Certified members are eligible for discounted insurance rates.
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.
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Log on to the NAPP® Member Center for more information about any of these programs.
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