At the risk of sounding like a broken record, since it is the New Year I thought it would be helpful to remind you all, again, of what is in my opinion the First Commandment of Ethics: Thou Shalt Communicate With Thy Clients. Seriously. Clients do not like to be ignored by their attorneys. This […]
Failure To Communicate No. 1 Cause Of USPTO Attorney Discipline Read More »
The USPTO Director excluded a patent attorney on consent following a disciplinary investigation arising from numerous alleged violations of the USPTO’s ethics rules. See In the Matter of Edward Etkin, Proc. No. D2016-05 (USPTO Dir. Jan. 8, 2016). The OED conducted a disciplinary investigation into the conduct of patent attorney Edward Etkin of Brooklyn, New
Five Strikes And You’re Out At The USPTO Read More »
George Foreman pitches their services on late night television commercials. A Google search for “how to sell my invention” turns up scores of them. Many individual inventors believe they have designed the next “better mouse trap” but typically have no clue how to monetize or market their invention. That is where invention marketing or promotion
OED Cracks Down On Patent Practitioners Working With Invention Promoters Read More »
The Wolf: “Just because you are a character doesn’t mean that you have character.” – Pulp Fiction So you say you want to become registered to practice before the USPTO? You possess all the requisite technical skills. You did well in law school. You recently passed the Patent Bar Exam with flying colors. Congratulations. So
Mission Impassable: Moral Character Can Block Applicants From USPTO Bar Membership Read More »
An IP attorney has filed a lawsuit against the United States Patent and Trademark Office seeking to prohibit the Agency’s Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED) from continuing to investigate him for alleged ethics violations because the process employed in conducting the ethics investigation is abusive and violates due process. The complaint, which was filed
IP Attorney Challenging Constitutionality Of USPTO OED’s “Abusive” Ethics Investigation Read More »
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
IP Litigators Beware: Bad News May Be Hazardous To Your Law License (Part 1 of 2) Read More »
What happens in patent litigation does not necessarily stay in litigation. This is especially true if a court sanctions counsel for litigation misconduct. News about such conduct travels quickly. Inevitably, it catches the attention of a different, and potentially more dangerous, audience–the Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED). Depending on the nature and severity of the litigation misconduct, an OED ethics investigation followed by formal charges alleging litigation counsel violated the USPTO’s Rules of
Courts Sanction Patent Counsel for Litigation Misconduct–Will USPTO Discipline Be Next? Read More »
