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The Perfect Protostorm: Jury Awards Startup $8 Million For Botched Patent Application

4 Comments / Failure to Communicate, Malpractice, Patent Litigation Ethics / By

Most patent malpractice cases are the result of not a single error by one person, but a combination of errors, often involving multiple individuals. Such a combination of errors led to a Virginia intellectual property firm’s failure to file its client’s, Protostorm LLC’s, patent application. The end result: on October 10, 2014, a federal judge in […]

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USPTO Suspends Ethically-Challenged Patent Attorney

Leave a Comment / Client Funds, Communications, Competence, USPTO Director Decisions / By

On August 19, 2014, the USPTO Director issued a final order suspending a patent attorney for 20-months based on three separate suspensions issued by the Supreme Court of California. The USPTO added an additional six-month period to the suspension—for a total suspension of 26 months—based on the attorney’s failure to cooperate with the OED’s disciplinary

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Former Client Publicly Blasts Attorney Suspended by USPTO for Failure to Communicate

5 Comments / Communications, Competence, Discipline, PTO Ethics Decisions / By

The USPTO recently settled a disciplinary action filed against an IP attorney by suspending him from practice before the Office for five (5) months for failing to communicate and allowing his clients’ trademark applications to become abandoned without their knowledge or consent.  In re Shaffer, No. D2014-18. This disciplinary matter arose from an attorney’s representation of two

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USPTO Excludes Attorney For Practicing Trademark Law With Suspended License

Leave a Comment / Competence, Discipline, PTO Ethics Decisions, Unauthorized Practice of Law / By

The USPTO Deputy Director has accepted the resignation of a suspended practitioner who was caught prosecuting trademark matters while his USPTO bar license was suspended. The action means the attorney, Leonard Tachner, is excluded from practice before the Office in patent, trademark, and other non-patent matters. In re Tachner, No. D2014-22. The saga of Mr. Tachner’s ethical troubles began ten years ago. At

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Alj Fernández Issues Initial Decision Excluding Patent Attorney Who Kept Fees After Failing To Provide Services

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Administrative Law Judge Alexander Fernández issued an initial decision excluding a patent attorney from practice before the USPTO because the attorney accepted fees from a client to prepare a patent application, failed to provide any legal services, and failed to return any of the client’s fee even after the client was awarded a money judgment against the

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