The Association of Intellectual Property Firms (AIPF) will be offering a webinar entitled "Optimizing Relations with the USPTO: All the Questions You Always Wanted to Ask and Could Never Get Answers For" on November 9, 2011 from 12:30 - 1:30 PM (EST). Stuart S. Levy of Sughrue Mion, PLLC and Jennifer C. Bailey of Hovey Williams LLP will participate in a question and answer webinar concerning the ins and outs of patent prosecution and will help attendees optimize their relations with the PTO and obtain the most efficient and best result for the client. Mr. Levy brings over 37 years experience in ex parte proceedings relative to his tenure in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) as a former Primary Examiner, Supervisory Patent Examiner (SPE), and Administrative Patent Judge with the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI). Among the questions to be addressed during the webinar are:
• Do examiners always do their own searching?
• How is the examination process different if the examiner is a primary versus a non-primary?
• Are there allowance conferences and who sits in?
• What does Quality Assurance do -- who is assigned and do they do additional searching?
• Can you hold video conferences with examiners for interviews?
• How much discretion does an examiner have in managing his/her docket?
• How is the Examiner's docket impacted by the new RCE docketing procedure?
Attendees are invited to submit additional questions for discussion during the webinar to Jennifer Bailey at [email protected].
Those interested in registering for the webinar can do so here.
"• Do examiners always do their own searching?"
What kind of question is that? Do they think a magic fairy does some of the searching? Well, we have the STIC to do some searching, but apparently they're directed (by POPA lulz) not to search where examiners do their searching (aka the US pubs etc).
Posted by: 6 | September 10, 2011 at 11:23 PM
Let me just answer these for the folks at home that won't be attending:
• Do examiners always do their own searching?
Pretty much except for some searching done by the STIC or the rare occasion of one examiner helping another.
• How is the examination process different if the examiner is a primary versus a non-primary?
Less bs goes on.
• Are there allowance conferences and who sits in?
Yes, juniors sit in with their sig examiner.
• What does Quality Assurance do -- who is assigned and do they do additional searching?
Basically just bs. They review some cases when 2nd pair of eyes is implemented (right now it isn't?) and they review some random cases to determine who needs more training, and they also have a hand in the sig program error determinations.
• Can you hold video conferences with examiners for interviews?
If you're leet and your examiner has the new Cisco phone and knows how to use it.
• How much discretion does an examiner have in managing his/her docket?
Pretty much full unless he is overridden in a specific case by a superior examiner. Although the workflow system guides the examiner's actions.
• How is the Examiner's docket impacted by the new RCE docketing procedure?
Some examiners have special new tabs that are filled up with like 28 cases (one real life example) or more because they put off working on them.
Posted by: 6 | September 10, 2011 at 11:29 PM
Is there any information regarding final rejections and the resulting use of RCE for enabling an examiner to increase his/her disposal rate?
Posted by: Lewis B. Sternfels | September 15, 2011 at 11:04 AM