February 24, 2006
#06-13

Press Release, 06-13

Berkeley Town Hall Meeting to Focus on Improvements to Patent Review Process

Washington, D.C. – Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property Jon Dudas will lead a town hall meeting to provide background information regarding proposed new rule changes to improve patent examination. The changes will make the patent examination process more effective and efficient by reducing the amount of rework by the USPTO and reducing the time it takes for the patent review process. In addition, the USPTO will demonstrate its new Web-based patent electronic filing system ( EFS Web ).

What    Town Hall Meeting

               An overview of the challenges the USPTO faces and the reasons why the proposed new rules
               are necessary.

               A question and answer session will follow immediately after presentations.

Who      Jon Dudas, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO

               Patent attorneys, patent agents, independent inventors and members of the small business
               community

When     Tuesday, February 28, 2006
               1:00 p.m.

Where   University of California, Berkeley International House
               2299 Piedmont Avenue
               Berkeley, California

For more information, please go to http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/townhall.htm .

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