Ethics and the USPTO: What Every Practitioner Needs to Know *

Ethics and the USPTO: What Every Practitioner Needs to Know *

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Join Gene Quinn, President & CEO of IPWatchdog, Inc., for a 1 hour ethics CLE. This ethics presentation will discuss:

(1) United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Rules of Professional Conduct, with emphasis on the Rules most often violated by practitioners at the USPTO, and how The USPTO Rules of Professional Conduct are the same as, or differ from, the ABA Model Rules (i.e. no criminal provisions, no per se prohibition against having sexual relations with a client, and the existence of a duty of candor to the Office under Rule 1.56, which does require unfavorable information to be turned over to the agency).

(2) The authority and jurisdiction of the Office of Enrollment & Discipline (OED) OED’s jurisdiction to take disciplinary action, specifically: (1) the ability to take action against both registered patent practitioners and attorneys representing clients on trademark matters; (2) OED’s limitation to enforce reciprocal discipline if another body has first proceeded; (3) OED’s jurisdiction to act in the first instance to take action against a registered practitioner or attorney; and (4) the authority of the USPTO Director suspend practitioners on an interim basis in extraordinary situations.

(3) Final Orders and Settlements resulting from disciplinary proceedings brought by the OED, specifically addressing the issue of Micro-Entity certification abuse, not keeping clients thoroughly informed, ethics issues raised by inadequate docketing, and the importance of keeping a separate retainer account.

Materials

Ethics for Patent Practitioners

Ethics of Using Generative AI