By Donald Zuhn —

USPTO to Hold Roundtable on
AIA First Inventor to File Provisions

Earlier this month, the
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a notice in the Federal Register (77
Fed. Reg. 49427)
announcing that the Office will be hosting a roundtable on September 6, 2012 to
obtain public input from organizations and individuals on issues relating to
the USPTO's proposed implementation of the first-inventor-to-file provisions of
the AIA.  On July 26, the Office
published a notice of proposed rulemaking regarding "Changes to Implement
the First Inventor to File Provisions of the Leahy-Smith America Invents
Act" (77 Fed. Reg. 43742)
and a request for comments regarding "Examination Guidelines for
Implementing the First-Inventor-to-File Provisions of the Leahy-Smith America
Invents Act" (77 Fed. Reg. 43759).  The roundtable will focus on the above
documents.

The roundtable will be held
from 1:30 to 4:30 (EDT) in the Madison Auditorium at 600 Dulany Street in Alexandria,
Virginia, and is open to the public.  The Office indicated that it plans to invite a number of roundtable
participants from among patent user groups, practitioners, industry,
independent inventor organizations, academia, and the government.  An agenda for the roundtable can be found
here.  The roundtable will be available via WebEx
webinar
(event number: 997 151 983; password: 123456) or teleconference at +1-408-600-3600 (access
code: 997 151 983).

USPTO to Hold Eight AIA
Roadshows on Final Rules

The U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office has announced that it will be hosting eight roadshows in
September to share information about the new final rules for implementing the
provisions of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act that take effect on September
16, 2012.  The final rules to be covered
at the roadshows relate to the inventor's oath/declaration, preissuance
submissions, citation of patent owner statements, supplemental examination, inter partes review, post grant review,
and covered business method review provisions of the AIA.  The roadshows will be free and open to the
public.  While pre-registration is not
required, seating will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.  The Office notes that the roadshows in
Minneapolis, Alexandria, and Los Angeles will be webcast.  The eight roadshows include:

Monday, September 10
Hennepin County Library
Minneapolis, MN

Wednesday, September 12
USPTO Campus
Alexandria, VA

Friday, September 14
Los Angeles Public Library
Los Angeles, CA

Monday, September 17
Denver Public Library
Denver, CO

Thursday, September 20
Detroit Public Library
Detroit, MI

Monday, September 24
Georgia Institute of
Technology Library
Atlanta, GA

Wednesday, September 26
Rice University Fondren
Library
Houston, TX

Friday, September 28
New York Public Library
New York, NY

According to the USPTO's AIA
Roadshow webpage, the
agenda of the roadshows will be as follows:

10:30 am — Opening Remarks

11:00 am — Patents: Final
Rules for Inventor's Oath/Declaration, Pre-issuance Submission, Miscellaneous
Post Patent Provisions, and Supplemental Examination

12:30 pm — Lunch Break

1:30 pm — Board: Umbrella
Final Rules and Specific Final Rules for Post Grant Review, Inter Partes Review, and Covered Business Method Review

3:15 pm — Break

3:30 pm — Finance:
Proposed Rules for Fees

4:10 pm — Patents:
Proposed Rules for First-Inventor-to-File

4:50 pm — Closing Remarks

USPTO Expands Patent Law
School Clinic Certification Pilot Program

Last month, the U.S. Patent
and Trademark Office announced
the further expansion of the Patent Law School Clinic Certification Pilot
Program to include an additional eleven schools for the upcoming academic
year.  Under the pilot program, law
students are permitted to practice patent law before the Office under the
guidance of a law school faculty clinic supervisor.  In particular, students in the program can
expect to draft and file a patent application and respond to an office action.

The Patent Law School
Clinic Certification Pilot Program was begun in 2008 with six law schools, was
expanded to include ten more schools in 2010 (some of the participating schools
allow students to practice before the Office in both patents and trademarks and
others allow students to practice before the Office in trademarks only).  The eleven new participating schools are
Arizona State University Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, Case Western
Reserve University School of Law, University of Colorado Law School, Fordham
University School of Law, University of Maryland Francis Carey School of Law,
North Carolina Central University School of Law, University of Notre Dame Law School,
University of Puerto Rico Law School, Thomas Jefferson School of Law,
University of Washington School of Law, and Wayne State University Law
School.  The above schools join the
sixteen prior participating law schools — University of Akron School of Law;
American University, Washington College of Law; University of Connecticut
School of Law; The George Washington University School of Law; Howard
University School of Law; The John Marshall School of Law; University of Maine
School of Law; University of Maryland School of Law; University of New
Hampshire School of Law; North Carolina Central University School of Law;
University of Puerto Rico School of Law; University of Richmond – Richmond
School of Law; Rutgers Law School – Newark Vanderbilt College of Law; West
Virginia University School of Law; and William Mitchell College of Law.