USPTO to Hold Live On-Line Chat for Independent Inventors
Thursday, September 18 from 2:00 – 3:00 pm (EST)

Senior officials of the United State Patent and Trademark Office will be available live on-line on Thursday, September 18, from 2 to 3 PM (EST). They will be answering questions and offering tips for independent inventors. Instructions for taking part in the on-line chat will be posted on the home page of the USPTO web site at 10 AM (EST) next Thursday. Inventors can begin logging on for the chat at 1:30 PM.

The independent inventor on-line chat is part of the USPTO's continuing efforts to promote and protect America's independent inventors. This effort includes educating inventor-entrepreneurs about the risks of working with invention development companies.

Click here for transcripts and Click here for frequently-asked questions from previous onlines available on the Inventors Resource pages. Check them out, your questions may have already been answered for you.

USPTO Launches Test of Online Continuing Education System

Approximately 850 registered attorneys and agents have volunteered to help the USPTO test the Continuing Education for Practitioners (“CEP”) system for on-line delivery of educational materials to patent practitioners. The test launched on Wednesday, September 3, 2008, and should be completed by September 30. The USPTO is no longer accepting volunteers.

Secretary Gutierrez Joins President Bush in Announcing Winners of 2007 National Medal of Technology and Innovation

WASHINGTON D.C. — U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez joined President George W. Bush in announcing and congratulating the 2007 laureates for the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the nation’s highest honor for technological and scientific achievement. President Bush will present the six individuals and two corporations with their medals at a White House ceremony on September 29, 2008.

“America leads the world in technological innovation because of men, women and cutting-edge corporations like those we honor this year,” Gutierrez said. “Their contributions to our society have impacted all of our lives and they serve as both an inspiration and as role models for future generations of American innovators.”

The 2007 National Medal of Technology and Innovation Laureates are:

• Paul Baran (Atherton, Calif.), whose invention of packet switching, provided the underlying technology that made the Internet possible.
• Roscoe O. Brady (Bethesda, Md.), whose discovery of the enzymatic defects in hereditary metabolic disorders such as Gaucher disease, Niemann-Pick disease, Fabry disease and Tay-Sachs disease, led to the development of a highly effective enzyme replacement therapy to treat patients with many hereditary enzyme-deficiency disorders.
• David Cutler (Medina, Wash.), who designed and implemented world standards for real-time, personal, and server-based operating systems and in the process made fundamental contributions to computer architecture, to compilers, to operating systems, and to software engineering.
• EBay (San Jose, Calif.) for pioneering the technology that encouraged and supported online trade, enabling global entrepreneurship and the growth of the Internet worldwide.
• Armand V. Feigenbaum (Pittsfield, Mass.), whose leadership in the development of the economic relationship of quality costs, productivity improvement, and profitability define the Total Quality Management approach for achieving performance excellence and global competitiveness.
• Adam Heller (Austin, Texas), whose contributions to electrochemistry and bioelectrochemistry led to the development of products that have improved the quality of life of millions particularly in the area of human health and well-being.
• C. Grant Willson (Austin, Texas), who created novel lithographic imaging materials and techniques that have enabled the manufacturing of smaller, faster and more efficient microelectronic components.
• Skunk Works (Palmdale, Calif.), a division of Lockheed, for its unparalleled 65-year record of developing cutting-edge aircraft, technologies and systems solutions for the U.S. Government including the introduction of operational “stealth” capability, which forever changed the landscape of US defensive weapon systems.

The National Medal of Technology and Innovation was created by Congress in 1980 and has been presented by the President of the United States since 1985. A distinguished, independent committee appointed by the Secretary of Commerce evaluates the merits of all candidates nominated through an open, competitive solicitation process. Committee recommendations are forwarded to the Secretary who makes recommendations to the President for a final decision.

The Medal program is administered by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Click here for additional information.

USPTO Unveils New Educational Museum Exhibit
Electronic “Portrait Gallery” Brings History of the U.S. Intellectual Property System to Life

The Department of Commerce’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) today unveiled a new exhibit at the USPTO Museum highlighting past and present individuals who have made a contribution to America's intellectual property (IP) system.

USPTO Identifies New Applicability Date of Certain Provisions in “Claims and Continuations” Final Rule

In a notice published in the Federal Register, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) alerted the public to a new applicability date of regulatory provisions dealing with related applications in the “Claims and Continuations” Final Rule. This Final Rule was permanently enjoined by the district court in Tafas v. Dudas on April 1, 2008, and the decision is currently on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.