Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) David Kappos today launched a blog to foster a direct dialogue with the USPTO’s stakeholders and the general public.

“It’s important for me to be able to hear directly from the IP community, and that is why we are establishing this open channel for sustained dialogue and the exchange of ideas,” said Kappos. “I hope that the public will find this blog to be a useful vehicle for providing input to me directly and giving us the feedback we need to be able to better serve our constituents and the American people. I am looking forward to hearing from all segments of the IP community and encourage you to share your ideas and concerns with me on an ongoing basis.”

Kappos’ first post marks his first 90 days in office and focuses on his participation in the agency’s 14th Annual Independent Inventors Conference held at the USPTO last week.  The post highlights key accomplishments and initiatives specifically geared toward assisting small entity inventors. Mr. Kappos also addresses areas of the proposed patent reform legislation that are of particular concern to this group.

The new blog is part of an extensive effort to reach out to the IP community and actively engage USPTO stakeholders in an effort help to the agency better serve the American public.

With all of this outreach, it will be interesting to see what roles the Patent Public Advisory Committee (PPAC) and the Trademark Public Advisory Committee (TPAC) will play in the Kappos regime.  The Public Advisory Committees for the USPTO were created by statute in the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999 to advise the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO on the management of the patent and the trademark operations. The Advisory Committees consist of citizens of the United States chosen to represent the interests of the diverse users of the USPTO. The Advisory Committees review the policies, goals, performance, budget, and user fees of the patent and trademark operations, respectively, and advise the Director on these matters.

The blog is available via the USPTO home page and at www.uspto.gov/blog.

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On November 5, 2009, USPTO Director David Kappos delivered the keynote address at the 14th Annual Independent Inventors Conference held at USPTO’s headquarters in Alexandria, Va.

During the address, Director Kappos announced a new initiative that is specifically designed to accelerate the patent process for independent inventors.  He called it a “backlog reduction pilot project” that will be made available only to small and medium-sized entities and will give them the opportunity to receive special, accelerated status for a new application if they abandon a pending, unexamined application.

The program is designed to allow independent inventors and innovators to advance an application in the queue by swapping out one they are willing to abandon.  According to Kappos, independent inventors are in a better position to help prioritize the PTO’s workload and he wants them to tell the PTO what matters most to them.  Kappos said this gives inventors the option to accelerate protection for their innovation while also reducing the overall backlog of unexamined patent applications.

The USPTO provided few other details last week, promising to put the start date and other information on its web site and in the Federal Register in the coming weeks.

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The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will host its third annual Design Day at the agency’s headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia next month. The event will be co-sponsored by the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the Intellectual Property Owners Association and the American Bar Association Section of Intellectual Property Law. Design Day is being organized by Technology Center 2900 and is open to design patent practioners and USPTO examiners.

This program will begin at 9:00 a.m. and will provide an opportunity for design managers, examiners, independent inventors and the design patent bar to exchange ideas and to educate each other on important topics affecting design patent practice. Program topics will include:

• Adequately Disclosing Multiple Embodiments
• Application Processing: Allowance to Issue
• A presentation and discussion of the recent CAFC en banc decision in Egyptian Goddess v. Swisa, Inc.
• A keynote address by Hon. Randall R. Rader, United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on the future of design patent law.

>> Click here to register no fee will be charged for the program, but non-USPTO employees must register in advance.

>> Click here for the Design Day 2009 agenda.

>> TC 2900 and design issues is a presentation from the 2008 Design Day.

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