BIO/CHEM/PHARMA CUSTOMER PARTNERSHIP CONTINUES – REPORT FROM 3/3/09 MEETING

Although this report (see link below) is of the March meeting, I hope to have current reports of meetings soon after they occur – if they continue to occur. It also gives me a chance to visit memory lane. In the 90’s, the Partnership was made up of a small group of senior PTO Examiners and Officials and a small group of practitioners (e.g, maybe ten of each). If you were a practitioner, you were supposed to attend as a representative of a user group, such as AIPLA or the ABA IP Law Committee. We actually sat across from each other and debated points of PTO policy, such as what does “sequence identity” mean, or how can restriction practice be improved. Practitioners also presented informal training programs to Examiners at lunch meetings. The discussions could get heated (including between practitioners) but these were effective forums to hash out differences face-to-face, without a particular client’s interests at stake.

Later, the Partnership Meetings were thrown open to one and all and became like small one-day conferences, where senior Examiners mainly showed up to “school” the practitioners on their latest positions.

So I stopped attending, although these “semi-inside” reports are still of interest. I hope we get a report from the June 10th meeting, Ray!
Meeting Report 3/3/09.pdf

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