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.