USPTO

Office of Enrollment and Discipline Offers Anonymous Ethics Hotline for PTO Practitioners

Who are you going to call if you have a question about whether your conduct as a patent or trademark attorney is ethical?   Many state bars offer “ethics hotlines” to aid their members in their understanding of, and compliance with, their obligations under applicable rules of professional conduct. Although the USPTO does not advertise a […]

Office of Enrollment and Discipline Offers Anonymous Ethics Hotline for PTO Practitioners Read More »

Failure To Communicate No. 1 Cause Of USPTO Attorney Discipline

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 »

Excluded Patent Attorney Appeals To Federal Circuit

A patent attorney who was excluded from the USPTO has appealed to the Federal Circuit. By way of background, on July 15, 2015, the USPTO Director entered an order excluding Richard Polidi from practice before the Office.  The USPTO Director’s disciplinary action came after the Director of the Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED) filed

Excluded Patent Attorney Appeals To Federal Circuit Read More »

Caveat IP Lawyer – Beware The Office of Enrollment and Discipline Violating The USPTO’s Reciprocal Discipline Rules

At first glance, the USPTO’s most recently published disciplinary decision seems relatively bland and altogether innocuous. The case of In re Juliet M. Oberding, Proceeding No. D2016-06 (USPTO Dir. Feb. 12, 2016) involves a California-based trademark attorney who told a client on several occasions, over the course of roughly 18 months, that the client’s trademark

Caveat IP Lawyer – Beware The Office of Enrollment and Discipline Violating The USPTO’s Reciprocal Discipline Rules Read More »

USPTO Suspends Former GWU Ethics Professor For Two Years

Mark H. Allenbaugh, a former award-winning Adjunct Professor on Ethics in Business and the Professions at the George Washington University, was suspended for two years from practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The suspension came as a result of a reciprocal disciplinary proceeding commenced by the Office of Enrollment and Discipline after the

USPTO Suspends Former GWU Ethics Professor For Two Years Read More »

Circuit Courts Warn: The New “F-Bomb” In Litigation Is “Frivolous”

It pays to be nice. That is the message from two recent Circuit Courts of Appeal decisions that criticized parties for lack of civility because counsel characterized their opponent’s arguments as “frivolous.” In the first case, Bennett v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 731 F.3d 584, 585 (6th Cir. 2013), the Sixth Circuit reversed a judgment

Circuit Courts Warn: The New “F-Bomb” In Litigation Is “Frivolous” Read More »

When It Comes To Teaching About Money, Law Schools Fail Miserably

Law schools are failing miserably to teach up and coming lawyers the most fundamental aspects of the business of law.  The absence of such training is particularly troublesome in today’s legal climate, where new law school grads far out number available entry level jobs. This economic reality can drive many newly-minted Esquires to make some

When It Comes To Teaching About Money, Law Schools Fail Miserably Read More »

USPTO Suspends Attorney For Six Months For Derogatory Patent Filings

This week at “Back to School Night,” I read with great interest some words of wisdom posted on the wall as part of a set of class “Rules.” The children agreed to three general principles of self-governance: Be nice to others. Don’t use bad words. Be respectful. Lawyers also have their own rules of self-governance, codified

USPTO Suspends Attorney For Six Months For Derogatory Patent Filings Read More »

Scroll to Top