Posts Tagged: "united inventors association"

Many within the independent inventor community are well acquainted with John Calvert. Calvert started out working for the United States Patent and Trademark Office as a patent examiner, but by the time he retired twenty-four years later in he was in charge of the independent inventor outreach efforts of the USPTO. I have known him for a long time and he is a true friend and champion for the independent inventor community has had over the years. He is also the new Executive Director of the United Inventors Association, where he will continue to promote, assist and educate inventors for years to come.

On Thursday, November 4, 2010, I attended the 15th Annual Inventors Conference at the USPTO.  In my article Reporting from the 15th Annual USPTO Inventors Conference I discussed the morning sessions and lunch speaker, for day one of the conference.  After lunch, and a panel discussion of the morning speakers, the attendees of the conference went into two sets of…

All in all I would characterize the mood of the PTO officials I spoke with as up-beat and the mood of the stakeholders in attendance was generally positive, but with reservations about the mechanics of Track 3. After the event I too would be upbeat if I were among the senior ranks at the USPTO. Those aspects that were viewed as negative or needing more work or clarification seemed few, were identified over and over again and should be addressable. That being the case it seems the majority of the proposal is acceptable and the community remains hungry for these types of creative initiatives, which sadly is all we have given that Congress continues to be AWOL on even relatively meaningless reforms, let alone reforms that could actually do some real good.

The UIA sent a letter to Senator Leahy and Congressman John Conyers. The UIA hopes what is most newsworthy about the letter is their appreciation of Kappos’ outreach to the independent inventor community. First to file may dominate the news though. Did you know that the mean cost of an interference through the completion of the preliminary motions phase is a whopping $417,130. The mean total cost of the entire interference is $656,306. What independent inventors can afford that?

Director Kappos is making his case for patent reform by making 4 key points. First, patent reform would lower patent office fees for independent inventors and presumably small businesses by establishing a new class — micro entities. Second, the fee setting authority in the patent reform legislation will allow for the USPTO to generate more revenue, thereby improving IT systems and hiring more patent examiners, while not costing micro entities more in the way of fees. Third, post grant review of patents will be condensed into a 12 month period and the threshold for initiating review will be raised, which should result in at settling effect not unlike the quieting of title in the real property scenario. Finally, the US will not become a pure first to file system, but rather into a first inventor to file system, which will have little or no effect on independent inventors and small businesses.

SAN DIEGO, CA (Marketwire – December 15, 2009) – A group of organizations today announced that they have banded together to form the Small Business Coalition on Patent Legislation created to draw attention to current patent reform proposals that have not been addressed by established patent stakeholders and that would be uniquely harmful to small business patentees if enacted.

Just 12 days ago I publicly resigned from the Board of Directors of the United Inventors Association over concerns I had with respect to the UIA.  Since that time I have received many e-mails and telephone calls regarding my resignation.  Some have been extremely supportive, and some have questioned my decision saying that I should not have run out on…

This article was written for the United Inventors Association Newsletter and is reprinted here with permission.  Sign up to receive the free UIA weekly newsletter. ******************************** Over the years I have received quite a number of e-mail inquiries and telephone calls from inventors who are looking for information and advice, perhaps even representation. Typically, the initial communication starts off with…

Over the last couple months regular readers of IPWatchdog.com have probably noticed some changes to the site.  One of the most prominent changes is the addition of Lambert Licensing as an advertiser.  Initially Lambert Licensing advertised on a few pages, and then they became a site-wide advertiser.  Increasingly, we are getting calls from inventors asking us about Lambert Licensing and more…

I am a member of the Board of Directors for the United Inventors Association, which is a national 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Since 1990 the UIA has been dedicated to inventor education & support. August is National Inventors Month, which coincidentally was was started in 1998 by the United Inventors Association of the USA (UIA-USA), the Academy of Applied Science, and…

Earlier today Rodger Gooch, a client of mine appeared on the national morning show — Fox & Friends.  Rodger came to me some time ago in order to protect his invention, which he dubbed Data Center in a Row.  We have filed a couple patent applications for Rodger, and there are more inventions in the works.  Rodger is a great…

Back in March 2009, I traveled to North Carolina to the Everyday Edisons studio to participate in the United Inventors Association filming of a 10 part mini-series that covers every stage in the patent to market process.  The series is about 5 hours in length and covers every aspect from how not to get scammed, to patents, prototypes, packaging, marketing,…

About a week ago I received a fairly typical e-mail from an individual who was inquiring about whether I could help provide certain services.  As you can probably imagine, I get inquiries from people looking for all different kinds of legal services, and I also get a lot of e-mails from those who have great ideas and want to sell…

On April 24, 2009, the United Inventors Association (UIA) will release a ground-breaking educational series covering every stage of the inventing process.  This 10 part series, made up of episodes that are approximately 30 minutes in length, was hosted by Steve Greenberg, the author of Gadget Nation: A Journey Through the Eccentric World of Invention.  Steve is a multiple Emmy Award…