Plan to provide on-site assistance to practitioners and inventors at hearings
Author: Kathy Vidal
Since I was sworn in as director of this great institution two years ago, I have been convinced that we must open the doors of opportunity in our innovation community to all, not just a few.
We do a lot at the USPTO to open these doors of opportunity, but I want to highlight a few things in particular that I need your help sharing with others. Overall, access to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) is easier and more transparent than ever for legal practitioners and the inventors they represent.
First, we are eager to engage with the public about our proposed rule to modify the standards that individuals must meet to practice before the PTAB. This rule will provide greater opportunities for more individuals to participate in our innovation ecosystem without compromising our goal of publishing and maintaining strong and reliable intellectual property. Stakeholders are encouraged to submit comments by May 21.
One opportunity we need your help promoting is the PTAB Pro Bono program, which serves under-resourced inventors seeking to appeal an examiner’s denial of patentability. We launched the program in 2022 in partnership with the PTAB Bar Association, and since then, many licensed patent attorneys registered to practice with the USPTO have provided free services representing independent inventors, groups of inventors, and inventor-owned small businesses. Ex parte appeal. We need your help to promote this program more broadly within the inventor community.
look uspto.gov/PTABProBono for eligibility requirements.
We also continue to empower the next generation of lawyers through the Legal Experience and Advancement Program (LEAP) and help prepare them for meaningful, impactful work early in their careers.
“LEAP to Chambers” brings qualified practitioners to a USPTO hearing where a PTAB judge will provide them with a behind-the-scenes LEAP Forward tour with the help of the PTAB. They will get a feel for the hearing room by standing behind the podium and testing their openings. They will learn how to present evidence at a hearing and can sit on the bench and view the hearing room and evidence from the judge’s vantage point. A remote judge will also join the tour to provide tips on how to most effectively conduct arguments before a mixed panel of in-person and remote judges.
Following the tour, judges will work with practitioners to highlight effective advocacy techniques and answer questions.
In “LEAP to Law Schools,” judges visit law schools and provide an overview of the PTAB process, including demonstrations of moot debates. The PTAB also continues to provide LEAP-eligible practitioners with the opportunity to conduct mock oral arguments before a panel of judges and practice advocacy skills and receive personalized feedback.
More than three years since LEAP was launched, more than 350 qualified practitioners and 135 law firms have participated.
contact me: [email protected] If you have questions about our PTAB programs, including the PTAB Pro Bono program and LEAP.
Kathi Vidal is Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).