The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will be holding its next biotechnology/chemical/pharmaceutical (BCP) customer partnership meeting on October 19, 2016 at the USPTO Headquarters (Alexandria, VA).  The agenda for the meeting is as follows:

• Welcoming and Opening Remarks (10:00 – 10:10 am EDT) — Jerry Lorengo, Director, TC1600, USPTO; Daniel Sullivan, Director, TC1600, USPTO; and Wanda Walker, Director, TC1600, USPTO

• Writing a 35 USC 112(a)-Enablement Rejection for Methods of Treatment with Organic Compounds (10:10 – 11:00 am) — Bennett Celsa, QAS, TC1600, USPTO; Sreeni Padmanabhan, SPE, TC1600, USPTO

• Claim Interpretation (11:00 – 11:45 am) — Jeffrey Lundgren, SPE, TC1600, USPTO

• Lunch (11:45 am – 12:55 pm)

• Functional Claiming in the Life Sciences (12:55 – 1:45 pm) — Joe Mallon, Partner, Knobbe, Martens, Olson & Bear, LLP

• Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative (EPQI) (1:45 – 2:30 pm) — Andrea Wellington, Senior Advisor, Office of the Deputy Commissioner for Patent Quality, USPTO

• Break (2:30 – 2:40 pm)

• Rule 130 Declarations for First-Inventor-to-File Applications (2:40 – 3:25 pm) — Kathleen Fonda, Senior Legal Advisor, Office of Patent Legal Administration (OPLA), USPTO

• Special Programs for Patent Prosecution (3:25 – 4:00 pm) — Fereydoun Sajjadi, SPE, TC1600, USPTO

• Closing Remarks (4:00 – 4:10 pm) – Directors, TC1600, USPTO

Additional information regarding the BCP customer partnership meeting, including registration information for those wishing to attend the meeting or register for online participation, can be found here.