The Small Business Watchdog

 
“It’s Sunday evening in a huge loft in New York City’s Chinatown, and leaders of nine motley teams are presenting their ideas for startup businesses to investors, advisors, and other wannabe Mark Zuckerbergs.” So begins an Entrepreneur article about “How Startup Weekend Got Its Start.” 
 Startup Weekends take place in locations from Kansas City to Singapore. [...]

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Jonathan Sposato of GeekWire.com will moderate a panel on Small Business Innovators: The Public/Private Relationship, at the Office of Advocacy’s September 19 conference in Seattle in conjunction with the “Next Fifty” commemoration of the 1962 World’s Fair. (See the Small Business Watchdog, Aug. 10). Panelists from the private, public, and academic sectors will offer a [...]

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With their combination of a culturally diverse people and a rich history, it is no wonder that the islands of St. Croix, St. John, and St. Thomas attract around 2 million tourists to their beaches every year. Tourism is the driving economic force for a population of just over 106,000, and until this year, the [...]

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Where do you think America will be in 2062?

Fifty years ago, in the midst of the Cold War, the Space Age, and JFK’s presidency, the 21st century was a nearly unfathomable dream of the future. Nevertheless, in 1962, millions of American dreamers converged on the country’s far northwestern corner for a glimpse [...]

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On August 7, Chief Counsel for Advocacy Winslow Sargeant and Region III Advocate Ngozi Bell visited Teqcorner, a dynamic technology innovation business center in Tyson’s Corner, Virginia that houses and provides services to emerging technology businesses. Its innovative model provides small businesses, technology companies, and startup entrepreneurs with a “community office” approach. It offers flexible [...]

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Bruce Lundegren, assistant chief counsel at the Office of Advocacy, attended the Department of Homeland Security’s “Chemical Sector Security Summit 2012” conference at the Baltimore Convention Center on July 31st and August 1st.  This year’s event, co-sponsored by the Chemical Sector Coordinating Council, was a forum for chemical industry representatives as well as government employees, [...]

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On July 26, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) published proposed rules and proposed examination guidelines for the first-inventor-to-file provision of the America Invents Act (AIA).  The first-inventor-to-file provision of the AIA converts the United States from a “first-to-invent” to a “first-inventor-to-file” system. The proposed rules and examination guidelines amend the rules of practice [...]

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