USPTO Florida Regional Inventors Conference – April 27-28

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Invent Now® and the National Academy of Inventors™ invite you to the Florida Regional Inventors Conference, a great chance to get practical advice from expert USPTO staff and to network with fellow creative entrepreneurs.

Space is limited, so click here to register early.

The conference will be held April 27-28, 2012 at the Embassy Suites Hotel located on the campus of the University of South Florida.  Presentations and workshops will be conducted by Senior USPTO officials, Supervisory Patent Examiners, trademark attorneys, successful inventors and intellectual property experts.

Speakers will include Teresa Stanek Rea, Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the USPTO; Mark Reyland, Executive Director, United Inventors Association; John Calvert, Senior Advisor, Office of Innovation Development, USPTO; Catherine Cain, Trademark Attorney, Legal Policy Office, USPTO; Wayne Brass, Small Business Development Center Certified Business Technology Consultant; Sandra Campbell, Director, Florida US Export Assistance Center; Pamela Riddle Bird, CEO of Innovative Product Technologies; and Mark Jensen, winner of the 2010 Collegiate Inventors Competition.

[Inventors-Google]

Afternoon breakout sessions will focus patent and trademark basics, searching sessions for patents and trademarks, advanced patent prosecution, insight on the America Invents Act (AIA) and local resources available to inventors.

A pre-conference workshop on patent basics will be held on April 26 from 5-7 pm and will be repeated as a breakout session on April 27. A networking reception will be held Friday evening, April 27, 2012.

Again, space is limited, so click here to register early and view the conference agenda.

The registration fee is $80.00 per person  ($70 for seniors or students) and includes all sessions and presentations, morning and afternoon refreshments, lunch both days and the networking reception. If you have questions about registration or have difficulty registering please contact Invent Now at 330-849-6878.

If you have questions about the conference agenda, please call Matthew Palumbo at 571-272-7517.

Topics & Sessions Include:

35 USC 103 – What is Obvious? – One of the most difficult questions in patent law is deciding how closely an invention can be to prior inventions and still be patentable. It’s a question that every independent inventor should ask before they file an application. Recent Supreme Court and Federal Circuit decisions have changed the framework for answering this question. This presentation provides a discussion of some of these decisions and will provide insight to the independent inventor in answering this question.

Claim Drafting for Beginners – Now that you understand the basics of the patent process, learn how to properly define your invention in a claim. The basics of claim drafting will be presented. Learn how to write claims through a structured approach. Understand how terms and their relationship will help you to build a well written claim. Find out how to review and revise a claim so that it provides a broadly claimed invention. Find out the difference between independent and dependent claims and why there is a difference.

Advanced Claim Drafting – Take the next step in claim drafting. Understand how prior art can influence your claim drafting. Learn how to write claims of varying scope. Learn how to write claims that cover more than one embodiment to broaden your patent coverage.

Advanced Tips for the Seasoned Inventor – This session will cover complex prosecution topics including declaration practice under rules 37 CFR 1.131 and 1.132 in order to overcome prior art references, the filing of terminal disclaimers in order to overcome double patenting rejections, requests for pre-appeal conferences, formalities required in order to file an appeal, and the procedure to revive an abandoned application.

American Inventors Act (AIA) How It Will Impact You – Learn about the American Invents Act and how it may affect you as an inventor. This is the biggest change in Patent Law since 1952 and offers many benefits for inventors. Some of the changes have been argued for and against. Find out what the changes really are all about and when they will be implemented.

Local Resources In Your Area – Although you will be hearing from local resources in the California area, these resources are actually located throughout the country and available to inventors everywhere. The USPTO’s Patent and Trademark Depository Librarians and the Inventors Forum, a local inventors group, will provide information about their respective resources.

One-on-One with the Experts – Thursday evening and Friday morning we have allotted time for you to sit down with an expert and have 15 minutes of consultation free!

Patent Searching and Navigating the USPTO Web site – In this session you will learn how to conduct a patent search. Supervisory Patent Examiners from the United States Patent and Trademark Office will provide tips and guidance that can help you search out those related patents.

Patents – Utility and Designs – In this session, you will learn why patents exist and how they protect inventions. Expert presenters from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will offer a detailed explanation of patent application filing requirements; forms required and associated filing fees. These experts will also review provisional applications, utility and design applications will be discussed.

Trademark Applications – Trademarks will explore the groundwork you need to apply for the trademark that will identify your invention for the public. It will cover the definition of a mark that can be registered and the federal law that is the basis of the registration system. It will also give you a thumbnail sketch of the trademark registration process from new application workflow through post-registration maintenance.

Trademark Searching – In this session, you will learn how to conduct a trademark search. A USPTO Trademark attorney will provide tips and guidance that can help you search out those problems that could ultimately sink your business.

Women and Minority Business – This session is designed with women and minority entrepreneurs in mind! The process of obtaining and protecting your IP can be a challenging one; come and learn about resources available from the USPTO, other government agencies and local associations directed to helping entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses in today’s world.