NAPP eNews™/April/ 2021 |
April 2021 NAPP Newsletter IMPORTANT ANNOUNCMENTS! Hi All! Sorry, it’s been awhile since we put a newsletter together, but the volunteer work continues and there is News to Share!! Executive Director Changes
Government Affairs The PTO has also issued Invitations to Comment on its proposed submissions to OMB relating to the forms and practices for: patent practitioner registration and renewal; application and re-examination petitions; power of attorney grant/revocation/withdrawal; the use of DOCX; and others. NAPP Member David Boundy has taken the lead to prepare letters commenting on several of these, which will likely benefit NAPP members and other patent practitioners. Letters about the CLE and POA requirements have been submitted; work is ongoing for other letters. Contact David Boundy on the forums if you want to get involved. NAPP’s efforts to promote harmonization of patent agent career options continue under Dan Smith’s leadership. The harmonization subcommittee has met with Mollybeth Kocialski (Director of USPTO Rocky Mountain Regional Office) and more recently with Andrei Iancu (Former Director of the USPTO), and with their encouragement is connecting with other organizations such as the AIPLA, IPO, and ABA, to broaden support for the initiative. The PTO leadership has been open to these efforts and is conducting internal analyses to calculate statistics that may lend further support. Contact Dan Smith directly or via Heather Blanken ([email protected]) if you want to get involved. Janet Gongola, Vice Chief Judge for Strategy, PTAB, organized a web meeting with NAPP’s leadership to raise awareness of the PTO Fast-Track Appeal Pilot Program (https://www.uspto.gov/patents/ptab/fast-track-appeals-pilot-program ), and of course we took the opportunity to familiarize the PTAB leadership about NAPP’s mission and membership. Among the more interesting factoids (to me) was the dramatic shortening of the average appeal pendency from about 12 months (normal track) to 2 months (fast track) for a cost of $420. Of course that doesn’t account for the dithering on the Examiner’s Answer, but it is nevertheless something to keep in mind if your client’s in a hurry to get something allowed.
Member Benefits Regardless, in their scarce free time, the three busy volunteers of the Member Benefits Committee are still working to bring you additional member benefits: We really could use some help! If you’re interested in developing more member benefits, please contact Mike Bendel directly or via Heather Blanken [email protected]. AMC and Webinars We are excited to announce that registration for the 2021 Annual Meeting & Conference (AMC) will be available soon! The 2021 AMC is scheduled to run from Monday, July 19, 2021 through Wednesday, July 21, 2021 — please save the date! Similar to 2020, the program is scheduled to be 100% virtual, but we have plans for promoting collegial interaction and networking. And, as usual for NAPP’s AMCs, we will have a wonderful lineup of high-quality speakers and topics, with plenty of CLE credits available for attorneys in attendance. NAPP is also dedicated to providing practical, patent-related educational content throughout the year as part of the hard work of the Professional Development Committee. To this end, we’ve already successfully hosted NAPP member Jonah Probell’s webinar on “Patenting through a $ Lens” in February, and have plans to host the following upcoming webinars: • April 14, 2021: e-PCT Basics presented by NAPP member Bruce Young We welcome your feedback regarding all NAPP events and webinars as we continue to strive to provide value to our members through continuing education and professional development.
PR Committee
New Committees? There is also interest in a task force to develop Pro Bono work guidance materials particularly for patent agents. If you’re interested in being on such a task force, please contact Chris Turoski directly or via Heather Blanken [email protected] .
Celebrating 25 Years Thank you for your continued membership and support of this wonderful organization. |