Competence

Artificial Intelligence for Lawyers: How To Maintain Your Technical Competency

Artificial Intelligence, Competence / By

Lately I have been inundated with news and information about Artificial Intelligence.  It seems that all the legal news is talking about these days, and will not stop talking about, is how AI is going to change my life.  Forever.  In major ways.  As the ABA recently noted, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing everything everywhere […]

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Lawyers Who “Dabble” In USPTO Trademark Matters Face Nightmare Of OED Ethics Investigations, Discipline

Competence, Copyright ethics, IP Ethics, Trademark ethics / By

“A man’s got to know his limitations”  – Clint Eastwood, Magnum Force  (1973) The USPTO’s Office of Enrollment and Discipline has become increasingly active in the last several years, particularly in investigating business or general practice attorneys who dabble in trademark law.  Many have learned the hard way–through an ethics inquiry and possible disciplinary decisions–regarding

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OED Investigates TM Attys Who File Altered Or Fake Specimens: The China Syndrome

Communications, Competence, Legal Ethics, Office of Enrollment and Discipline, Trademark ethics / By

What does the Chinese government’s decision to pay its citizens to apply for and register trademarks with the USPTO have to do with IP attorney ethics?   Plenty, as it turns out. As recently reported by the American Bar Association, see article doctored-trademark-specimen, the USPTO is experiencing “a plague of fake, doctored and digitally altered specimens”

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Breadth Of PTO Ethics Opinion Could Alter How IP Firms Interact With Foreign Associates

Communications, Competence, Conflicts of Interest, Patent Ethics, PTO Ethics Rules, Unauthorized Practice of Law / By

This post is the last of a three-part series reviewing how the USPTO interprets and applies its ethics rules to IP practitioners who represent patent and trademark clients through non-practitioner intermediaries. Where Are We Now: Evolution of PTO Ethics Opinions Thirty years ago, the PTO issued (in 1987 and 1988) ethics opinions regarding very discrete

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Better Late Than Never: PTO Updates, Expands Ethics Advice On Client Intermediaries

Communications, Competence, Conflicts of Interest, Invention Promoters, Office of Enrollment and Discipline, Patent Ethics, PTO Ethics Decisions, Unauthorized Practice of Law / By

This post is the second in a three-part series reviewing how the USPTO interprets and applies its ethics rules to U.S. patent and trademark practitioners who represent clients by working through non-practitioner client intermediaries. In re Mikhailova and USPTO’s Expanded Ethics Guidance Three decades after the OG Notices, the USPTO published a final order in

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Are Your Firm’s Foreign Associate Practices Ethical?

Communications, Competence, Conflicts of Interest, IP Ethics, Office of Enrollment and Discipline, Patent Ethics / By

It is commonplace for IP law firms in the United States to receive referrals for patent and trademark application filing, prosecution, and related services from sources other than the actual client.  In one of the most common scenarios, patent and trademark services are directed to a U.S. IP law firm through an intermediary, such as

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Portus Drops Subject Matter Conflict Claim Against Kenyon; Alleges Firm’s Prosecution Malpractice Shortened Patent Term By 3+Years

Competence, IP Malpractice, Patent Prosecution Malpractice / By

For the past year, Portus Singapore Pte. Ltd. (“Portus”), a former client of the now-defunct Kenyon & Kenyon (“Kenyon”) law firm, has been trying to get a claim for legal malpractice to stick against its former IP counsel.   So far, Portus’ efforts have been unsuccessful.  On July 28, 2017, Portus took its third bite at

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To Encrypt, Or Not To Encrypt, That Is The Question

ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, Competence, Confidentiality / By

The ABA has dived head first into the pool of law firm cybersecurity.  On May 11, 2017, the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility issued Formal Opinion 477 (here), which addresses a broad range of issues that lawyers must consider to protect client confidential information from “nefarious actors throughout the internet.”

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