Can a Patent Agent Prepare a Patent License or an Assignment?

New Federal Register Notice of note: Changes to Representation of Others Before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (28 Feb 2007).

SUMMARY: In December 2003, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office) proposed amendments to, inter alia, the rules governing disciplinary proceedings for attorneys and agents who practice before the Office, principally rules 11.2, 11.3, 11.5, and 11.14 through 11.62. One hundred fifty-seven written comments were received. After reviewing the written comments, the Office has decided to revise several of the rules as then proposed and request additional comments on those revised proposals. Other proposed rules contained in the earlier Notice of Proposed Rule making remain under consideration by the Office. This supplemental notice of proposed rule making sets forth revisions that the Office is proposing to the rules governing the
conduct of investigations and disciplinary proceedings. Interested individuals are invited to comment on the proposed revisions in the rules.

Regarding whether a patent agent can prepare a license or assignment:

But for limited situations noted below, a registered patent agent is not authorized by his or her registration to practice before the Office to draw up a contract or to select contract forms for a client relating to a patent, such as an assignment or a license, if the state in which the agent resides or practices considers drafting contracts the practice of law. Assignments and licenses are the creation of state, not federal, statutory law.

[Via Hal Wegner]

Update: Russ Krajec ponders “This has a profound and negative effect on patent attorneys as well, as any assignment filed for an out of state client would also fall into this trap.” and Dennis Crouch opines on the ethics of representing out of state patent clients.

Related Posts:

• Federal Register notice re: USPTO ethics
• Revision of Power of Attorney and Assignment Practice
• Patent term extension/adjustment rule changes

Copyright Graphical Flowchart

This is worth checking out…a very interesting visual explanation of U.S Copyright Law.

Copyright Navigator
A Digital Annotated Concept Map of the Fundamentals of U.S. Copyright Law
by Lionel S. Sobel
Professor, Southwestern University School of Law
Editor, Entertainment Law Reporter

Related Posts:

• Protecting your photos on the Internet
• Flowcharts on IP for Clients…
• Copyright term

Blame it on the Continu-rain…

A year ago, the Patent Office published (in the CFR) proposed rules entitled Changes To Practice for Continuing Applications, Requests for Continued Examination Practice, and Applications Containing Patentably Indistinct Claims, which among other things pointed the finger of blame regarding patent pendency squarely upon “continuation abuse.”

Professor Crouch (sporting a new blog design) did some research and casts some serious doubts on whether pendency issues can be blamed on continuations.

It will be interesting to see where this all goes…

See also:

Patently-O: How long do I wait for a First Office Action

Promote the Progress: Justify Your Existence: PTO proposed changes to continuation and continued examination practice

Related Posts:

• Separation of [Patent Reform] Powers
• USPTO rule change regarding continuation practice…hope you like it.
• Twas the night before Christmas….Cue the Grinch

Patent Attorney Crunches the Numbers Regarding InventHelp & Davison Success Rates

Only 0.23% of all clients who paid money to InventHelp between 2003 and 2005 actually made more money than they paid…

Davison….a whooping 0.03% success rate…

Kurt Leyendecker on Inventhelp and Davison - the truth behind the polish

Related Posts:

• Advent Product Development’s Success Rate - 0%?
• Invention Promoters in the News
• FTC vs. Davison & Associates (Davison Design and Development) Decided

Wikipedia on Invention Promotion Firms

There’s a Wikipedia entry for everything…including invention promotion firms.

Related Posts:

• Updated links to USPTO & FTC publications on invention promotion companies
• Another Invention Promotion Company Story
• UPDATE: post on Invention Promotion Companies

Web 2.0 for Attorneys

In a month (March 22-24) I’ll be speaking in Chicago at the American Bar Association’s TechShow on a couple of topics. First, speaking with Rick Klau on “Collaborating with Clients and Colleagues: Google Docs, Wikis, and Other Web Tools,” and second with Matt Homann on “Web 2.0: The Next Generation of Internet Tools.”

To me, 1.o was “pull” oriented. When you wanted information you would “pull” it in. When you had information to share, you’d sit around waiting for your clients/customers/fans to pull it from you. If they didn’t remember to “pull” (visit your static website), then your information wasn’t distributed. Regardless of the quality of your content, the wisdom you could impart, the passion you have…unless someone remembers to “pull” in the data…your goes no where.

I used to describe Web 2.0 as “push.” Content and information is now easily pushed to you. It is that aspect that is the genius of blogging. Whenever I have something new to say (post)…the information is automatically pushed to you (whether by RSS or by email).

Lately, it dawned on me that even that “push” concept is to simple. Web 2.0 isn’t about pushing information (vs. pulling), it is (as Matt and Doug have taught me) about each of us using push/pull technologies to collaborate together through the sharing of information. It is this…collaboration…which is the true backbone of Web 2.0.

Then…the other day I saw perhaps the best illustration yet as to what “2.0″ is. It is video by Michael Wesch, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology, Kansas State University called “The Machine is Us/ing Us.”  [watch this video!]:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE

Collaboration. Sharing. Communicating.

Perhaps I need to rethink this blog. Now that I’ve switched to WordPress it is easier than ever to allow my readers to make posts. To share information with colleagues. To communicate. To collaborate. Any takers?

[BTW: If you haven’t been to TechShow before…please do consider it. It is well worth the cost! You can Register Here.]

Related Posts:

• In Chicago? Want to meet up with some law bloggers?
• Searching Federal Circuit Opinions on the Fly…
• Boise Idea Market!

Federal Circuit Summaries, Practice Alerts

Want to follow Federal Circuit caselaw but don’t have time to read lengthy case summaries? FedCirc.us has an RSS/e-mail feed for you.

1. Case Review Summaries (provides summaries of the ten most recent case reviews)

RSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/fedcircus_summaries

E-mail:Click for subscription form

2. Practice alerts (provides all FedCirc.us Practice Alerts)

RSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/fedcircus_alerts

E-mail: Click for subscription form

Related Posts:

• My latest project: FedCirc.us
• New Magazine Covers Federal Circuit Patent Decisions
• Searching Federal Circuit Opinions on the Fly…

This blog has moved to www.inventblog.com

This blog has moved to www.inventblog.com.  Please update your bookmarks.

Related Posts:

• Domain woes…
• Blawger Bowl
• Quote of the week

Blog moving…pardon the dust

I’m in the process of moving this blog from TypePad to WordPress…please bear with me (and pardon any duplicate posts).

Related Posts:

• InventBlog.com
• New favorite blog
• Parole for blogs in my probation folder

Searching Federal Circuit Opinions on the Fly…

Matt over at FedCirc.us added a cool new feature today…an in browser search box for Federal Circuit content.  You know what I’m talking about…that slick little dropdown in FireFox and the new Internet Explorer that lets you search all sorts of sites, from Google to Amazon to eBay.

Well…now you can add FedCirc.us to that list per Matt’s instructions:

The master plan for the FedCirc.us site includes several web features designed to deliver patent caselaw information in a more effective manner.  The first - the GimmeTen! feature - has quickly become the most popular page on the site…and for good reason.  Not familiar with it?  Simply bookmark http://10.fedcirc.us and visit regularly.  That page always provides concise summaries of the ten most recently posted case reviews.  We’re confident you’ll quickly be hooked.

Today we announce the second feature in our bag of tricks - the travelling FedCirc.us search engine.  By following the steps below, you’ll be able to search the FedCirc.us site from anywhere on the web.

The best part is the simplicity — 5 easy steps (4 for most people).  Five minutes tops.

1.  Make sure you’re using either Internet Explorer 7 or Firefox 2.0 as your browser.  If you’re not, download the latest IE here or Firefox here (both are free).  For the record, FedCirc.us is optimized for Firefox.

2.  Start your browser.

3.  Visit FedCirc.us.

4.  Pull down the drop-down search box in the upper right hand corner and select “Add FedCirc.us” (in Firefox) or select “FedCirc.us” with the gold star next to it (in IE, see image at right).

5.  Surf the web.  Whenever you want to search the site, simply enter a search string in the box in the right hand corner, pull down the list, select FedCirc.us, and hit return.  You can do this from any page on the web…and you’ll immediately be transported to a listing of search results from the site.

I’ve quickly gotten used to searching by party name or full case name as I’m reading on the web.  This little trick has changed my surfing habits for the better…it’s a wonderfully efficient way to find information quickly.  We hope you find it useful as well.

As always, if you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know.  You can e-mail me directly at jmb @ rtipllc.com.

Enjoy!

Related Posts:

• Patent Case Law Portal Adds Amazing Search Functions
• My latest project: FedCirc.us
• New Magazine Covers Federal Circuit Patent Decisions