ACI USPTO Boot Camp: Patent Edition Conference

American Conference Institute (ACI) will be holding its USPTO Boot Camp: Patent Edition conference on September 22-23 in Alexandria, VA.  The conference will allow attendees to:

• Identify the subject matter of an applicant's proposed patent;
• Define "prior art" for the practical purpose of conducting a search and anticipating an examiner's rejections;
• Examine changes in the USPTO's rules to set your patent prosecution strategy;
• Understand what examiners look for in a patent application;
• Set a tone of advocacy for the patent application instead of being an adversary of the examiner;
• Design a consistent patent record keeping strategy for the patent portfolio;
• Build a patent prosecution record that could serve as the basis of future patent litigation;
• Prosecute patents effectively by seeing the application from the patent examiner’s point of view;
• Allocate realistic resources in the client’s budget to meet the rigorous demands of patent prosecution;
• Tackle the challenges of obtaining a patent in a post-KSR world;
• Evaluate the options best suited for overcoming rejections in Office Actions;
• Negate the patent examiner’s argument with thoughtful, meaningful, and persuasive language; and
• Translate legalese into winning language for the patent application.

In particular, ACI's faculty will offer presentations on the following topics:

• Eliciting the critical information from the applicant to effectively prosecute the patent;
• Conducting a prior art search to uncover potential obstacles to a successful patent application;
• Luncheon keynote speech -- Robert Oberleitner, Assistant Deputy Commissioner for Patent Operations, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office;
• Look before you leap:  Deconstructing the impact of the PTO’s rules in a post-Tafas vs. Dudas world;
• Drafting the USPTO patent application with winning claims -- to be presented in part by Patent Docs author Donald Zuhn;
• Probing the underlying reason, purpose, and effect of a USPTO Office action;
• Getting a firm grasp on obviousness and overcoming Office action rejections;
• Best practices for conducting interviews with examiners at the USPTO:  Don’t get lost in the bureaucracy;
• View from the USPTO -- Robert Clarke, Director, Office of Patent Legal Administration, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; Jessica Harrison, Special Program Examiner, Technology Center 3700, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office;
• Mapping out a realistic, practical, and beneficial record keeping strategy in patent prosecution; and
• Looking beyond drafting the patent application to arguing a patent dispute at the USPTO and beyond.

The agenda for the USPTO Boot Camp: Patent Edition conference can be found here.  A complete brochure for this conference, including an agenda, list of speakers, and registration form can be downloaded here.

The registration fee for the conference is $2,195.  Those registering on or before July 27, 2008 will receive a $300 discount off the registration fee and those registering on or before August 29, 2008 will receive a $200 discount off the registration fee.  Those interested in registering for the conference can do so here, by calling 1-888-224-2480, or by faxing a registration form to 1-877-927-1563.

Patent Docs is a media sponsor of ACI's USPTO Boot Camp: Patent Edition conference.

Comments

[e6k]

I could take the day off to monitor the procedings and make sure they don't lie to you about "what the examiner wants" or "how the examiner sees the application" if you guys like.