Overview of the Patent Pro Bono Program

THIS PROGRAM HAS BEEN POSTPONED

This program will be rescheduled for a later date

An Overview of the Patent Pro Bono Program and Ethical Issues in Representing Pro Bono Clients

With James Silbermann, Esq., Staff Attorney, OED, United States Patent and Trademark Office

One (1) FREE hour of CA MCLE ETHICS is available for this program.

Lunch will be served with this program.

California Lawyers for the Arts, the statewide Administrator of the California Inventors Assistance Program [CIAP], invites you to an overview of the Patent Pro Bono Program.   

Managed by regional intellectual property law organizations across the United States, the Patent Pro Bono Program, under §32 of the America Invents Act, endeavors to match under-resourced independent inventors and small businesses with volunteer registered patent practitioners who provide patent preparation and prosecution services on a pro bono basis. 

The Patent Pro Bono Program provides patent practitioners the opportunity to serve eligible inventors in their area of expertise because only a patent practitioner registered before the USPTO can help an under-resourced inventor file and prosecute a patent before the USPTO. 

Therefore, the goals of the program are to:

• promote small business growth and development


• help ensure that no deserving invention lacks patent protection because of a lack of money for IP counsel, and


• provide patent attorneys and opportunity to serve in their area of expertise

This presentation reviews ethical considerations in the representation of pro bono clients, by addressing topics such as conflicts and unbundled patent prosecution services. The presentation also provides an overview of some relevant ethics cases.

Come and learn more about how you can help under-resourced inventors and small businesses in California through the California Inventors Assistance Program!

http://www.calawyersforthearts.org/CIAP

© Copyright 2016 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP. Reproduced with Permission.

Presenter:  James M. Silbermann is a staff attorney in the Office of Enrollment & Discipline at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).  Mr. Silbermann joined the Office of Enrollment & Discipline in 2005.  In the Office of Enrollment & Discipline he focuses on enrollment and discipline matters and also supervises the USPTO Law School Clinical Certification Program.
 
Mr. Silbermann began his professional career as a patent examiner with the USPTO.  Mr. Silbermann worked at the law firm of Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky LLP in Washington, D.C. and the Washington office of Foley & Lardner LLP, where he specialized in intellectual property acquisitions, client consultation, patent litigation and patent prosecution.
 
Mr. Silbermann received his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1989, and his J.D. degree, magna cum laude, from the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, in 1996, where he was an editor of the Journal of Contemporary Health Law and Policy.  He is a member of the Virginia and District of Columbia Bars.