USPTO OED

IP Litigators Beware: Bad News May Be Hazardous To Your Law License (Part 1 of 2)

Leave a Comment / IP Litigation Sanctions, Patent Litigation Ethics, USPTO OED / By

Many years ago, before Al Gore invented the internet and teenagers rode their bicycles before dawn, their palms black with ink, to deliver “the paper,” science fiction novelist Douglas Adams observed, “Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws.”  Truer words today could not be […]

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The Ethical Risks of Paraprofessionals Providing IP Legal Services (Part 2 of 2)

Leave a Comment / IP Ethics, OED, Office of Enrollment and Discipline, USPTO OED / By

In this part, we continue to address some of the ethical risks involving delegation of intellectual property legal services to non-lawyer paraprofessionals. Ethical Responsibilities of Practitioners Regarding Paraprofessionals The USPTO ethics rules state the responsibilities of practitioners over non-practitioners as follows: First, a practitioner who is a partner, and a practitioner who individually or together with

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Is The USPTO’s One-Year Statute Of Limitations For Filing An Ethics Complaint Triggered By The OED’s Failure To Investigate Or Willful Blindness?

Leave a Comment / Patent Attorney Disciplinary Matters, Statute of limitations, USPTO OED / By

One of the lesser publicized changes to patent law made by the America Invents Act was the amendment to Title 35, Section 32, which included two separate limitations periods for USPTO disciplinary complaints. As amended, Section 32 states a USPTO disciplinary proceeding must be commenced: not later than the earlier of either the date that

Is The USPTO’s One-Year Statute Of Limitations For Filing An Ethics Complaint Triggered By The OED’s Failure To Investigate Or Willful Blindness? Read More »

To Err Is Human – But Is It Unethical?

2 Comments / IP Ethics, PTO Ethics Decisions, USPTO OED / By

“I made a wrong mistake” – Yogi Berra   Before his sentencing for orchestrating the largest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history, Bernie Madoff explained to the court he had “made a terrible mistake.”  To borrow a line from my 11-year old daughter: “No duh.” Madoff’s “mistake” led to a 150-year prison sentence. In bar disciplinary

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