NAPP's MONTHLY MEMBER NEWS - JANUARY 2023

NAPP President's Message

NAPP is a dynamic professional association making a difference in the patent profession. NAPP’s Advocacy Committee is CRUSHING IT in this area. NAPP recently filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in Amgen v. Sanofi. The brief argued the enablement standard at issue leaves patent practitioners guessing how to advise client inventors regarding the extent of disclosure required in patent applications and encouraged the adoption of a more workable enablement standard. Thanks to NAPP members Kip Werking, Louis Hoffman, and Xhavin Zhina for their work on the brief. 

Closer to home, the NAPP Annual Meeting and Conference (AMC) will be held July 19-21, 2023, in Alexandria, Virginia. This AMC promises to be the best AMC ever (until the next one!).  

If you want to make a difference in NAPP and the patent profession, Contact a committee chair or [email protected] to volunteer on a NAPP project or committee. 


Christopher M. Turoski
President, National Association of Patent Practitioners (NAPP)

MEMBER HIGHLIGHTS 

NAPP-founder Joy Bryant's husband Rob inducted to the National Inventors Hall of Fame® (NIHF)
Steve Katsaros

NAPP Member Steve Katsaros shared that he attended CES recently and met Joy and Rob Bryant. Rob was at CES for an interview https://www.cnet.com/science/how-supersonic-tech-got-into-cardiac-devices-and-saved-lives/ about his induction to the NIHF for inventing a high-performance polymer called LaRC-SI (which stands for Langley Research Center Soluble Imide). The technology found many uses, including implantable "leads," or wires that connect pacemakers to a heart. Medtronic's use of LaRC-SI has "...helped save nearly 700,000 people — so far." Read more about his invention and NIHF at https://www.invent.org/inductees/robert-bryant.

“I found it equally fascinating to hear of Joy Bryant's work as a NAPP founder, and run it for 10 years (with 500 members!). 

I enjoyed hearing her story and sharing details of daily benefits I receive from being a NAPP member. While Joy doesn't practice patent law now, she and Rob continue to inspire and support inventors.

Attached are pictures of Rob & Joy, and a picture of me & Rini Paiva (NIHF's Executive Vice President). I won NIHF's Collegiate Invention Competition in 1995 and have had a great relationship with NIHF.

Joy and Rob Bryant Rina Paiva and Steve Katsaros

NAPP WELCOMES NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, JOSEPH ROSARIO, STARTING FEBRUARY 1ST

Joseph Rosario is an Association Manager at Capitol Hill Management Services (CHMS), where he manages all day-to-day operations for a national insurance and investigative association, including membership services and database management, program planning, conference and meeting support, and communications. Joe is a highly motivated and innovative association professional who has developed excellent organizational management, communication, problem-solving, and risk management skills. A native of New York City, Joe received his Master of Business Administration from Canisius College. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree (BS) in Political Science from Keuka College. Joe looks forward to building strong relationships with the leadership and NAPP members. Joe is working with the NAPP Board and volunteers to prepare for his role. Joe is also behind the scenes with Karen Miles, the Interim Executive Director, who excelled in her role with NAPP and who we wish continued success at CHMS.


 

SAVE THE DATE

NAPP 26th Annual Meeting & Conference (AMC)
July 19-21, 2023
located at the 
USPTO Headquarter Offices
Alexandria, VA

More details to be shared in February!


AMC 2023 PLANNING COMMITTEE

Save the Date for the 26th Annual Meeting & Conference (AMC) scheduled July 19-21, 2023, at the USPTO Headquarter Offices in Alexandria, VA. A block of rooms has been secured at the nearby Embassy Suites (1900 Diagonal Rd) for $185/night. We have a tentative agenda and are sending out official speaker invites. It’s going to be another great event jam-packed with content of particular interest to patent practitioners. More details to be shared soon! 

NAPP’s AMC Planning Committee could you use your assistance with program development and ideas for social activities for the conference in Old Town Alexandria, VA. If you are interested in joining the committee, please contact Joe Rosario ([email protected]). Monthly commitment is typically 1 - 2 hours dedicated to a planning call and a few follow up communications to potential speakers or sponsors.


 

NAPP MEMBERS COLORADO MEETUP

The Colorado local meetup host monthly meetings mostly every 3rd Wednesday at 7PM MT. The next meeting is scheduled Wednesday, February 15 from 7:00 – 8:00 PM and we will be discussing building a patent practice. Calendar at https://www.napp.org/napp-calendar


NAPP FORUM 

Have you signed into the NAPP Forum lately? Checkout the current hot topics:



The Forum is a great online resource and includes a very interactive member community. This is a member benefit and requires different login credentials than your NAPP member information. Please contact the NAPP office at [email protected] if you are having trouble accessing the site.


VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR NAPP's GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE

The three members of NAPP’s Governance Committee are brainstorming ideas for improving volunteer and committee coordination, possibly including adoption of a project management infrastructure. There’s a growing momentum among the volunteers that we hope to channel into significant enhancements to the member experience. If you believe NAPP can become THE organization of choice for patent practitioners, we want you to join our committee to help us make it happen! Please contact Dan Krueger or Joe Rosario ([email protected]). 


MEMBER REMINDER - INSTRUCTIONS FOR USING THE PATENT BOTS PREP & PROTS TOOL  FOR NAPP MEMBERS!

NAPP members who are current with their membership are provided a cost-free and complimentary subscription to the Patent Bots Prep & Pros Pro tool, a $400.00 value, as of December 1, 2022, through December 1, 2023. 

To access the Prep & Pros Pro tool, please go to https://www.patentbots.com/ and create a PatentBots account using the same email address as your NAPP membership and a password unique to your PatentBots account. 

Training:  Click here (NAPP member login credentials required) to view the initial training provided by the PatentBots team to help you get started. 

Here are some tools to help you get started:

Technical Support:  Patent Bots provides training videos on its Vimeo page that is accessible to all its subscribers, including NAPP members. On-going training and support will be provided via the NAPP forum, for technical support relating to creating Patent Bots accounts, logging in, and resetting passwords. Follow the NAPP Forum topic to keep updated on the best practices and tips for using the tool! (Note: The Forum requires different login credentials than your NAPP member information. Please contact the NAPP office at [email protected] if you are having trouble accessing the Forum.)    

Microsoft Word add-in, use of Patent Bots products, etc.  When NAPP members are not able to obtain needed assistance from the forum, information will be provided to contact Patent Bots directly for that assistance.

* WHEN NOT FREE:  While the subscription here is free for most of our members, there is one limitation. If you are a NAPP member who wishes to subscribe to another Patent Bots product in addition to Prep & Pros Pro, you cannot be included in this subscription offer. Rather, you and will need to obtain your own Patent Bots subscription at Patent Bots’ regular prices.  For example, a NAPP member who is a solo practitioner and subscribes to both Prep & Pros Pro and Examiner Statistics, will need to purchase those subscriptions directly from Patent Bots at the current regular price of $55.10/month.   


NAPP's MENTORSHIP PROGRAM IS THRIVING!

NAPP's Programs Committee is seeking mentors to guide our less experienced members forward on their career trajectory. We're looking for experience, not expertise; someone who can provide newly registered practitioners with a sense of the profession. Mentors must be NAPP members with 10 or more years of patent prosecution experience. Meeting arrangements can vary, but often 1hr/month is enough. (If you're wondering how this is a member benefit, let me say I've really benefited from my experience coaching a mentee and wondering why I haven't followed my own advice.) Interested Members should contact the NAPP Office ([email protected]) to obtain a copy of the NAPP Mentoring Program Agreement and Guidelines. The signed agreements will be forwarded to the Mentoring Committee for approval and matching in due course. We are especially in need of Mentors in the Chemical and Biological Arts.  Help us reach our goal! 

Thank you to the new NAPP members that recently submitted mentee applications! We still have room for more. Could you benefit from this?  It is as formal or informal as you would like it to be. Tap into the expertise of your NAPP colleagues, and help accelerate up your learning curve and make practice more enjoyable.


BEST PRACTICE RISK REDUCTION PROGRAM

We are in the process of revamping and relaunching this program, including these possible benefits (i) advertising “Compliant with NAPP Best Practices Program”, (ii) better access to professional liability insurance, (iii) a professional liability insurance discount, and (iv) whatever other “benefits” we may be able to package here.  Got some time?  Please join us to help develop the framework for what the program should look like, under the guidance of one of our professional liability insurance company members and other NAPP practitioner members. If interested, please contact Mike Bendel or Joe Rosario ([email protected]).


WEBINAR SERIES

NAPP’s professional development committee is looking for speakers for future webinars. If interested in presenting, please contact Anne Fahrni ([email protected]).

To view past webinar recordings, visit the NAPP website (www.napp.org), Go to the Events Menu and Select Webinar Series, or click here (NAPP Member login required). Slides and discussions around the topics of the webinar can be found in the Professional Development Committee’s section in NAPP's Forum.

NAPP professional development committee is experimenting with a new guided webinar discussion series where an external webinar is recommended in the Professional Development Committee’s section in NAPP's Forum. For February 2023, USPTO’s training on the Patent Public Search tool is recommended. We hope to lineup experienced searchers to provide additional training on the topic of patentability search after the USPTO presentations on the topic on February 9th and 10th


NAPP's BLOG  

NAPP's Professional Development Committee is soliciting blog articles that are of interest to present and prospective members. For example, if you previously had started a forum thread and benefited greatly from the discussion in your thread, convert that thread to a blog article to give back to our community of fellow practitioners. The selected blog article contributor will gain name recognition, and an Amazon gift card! Send your submissions to the NAPP Office at [email protected]


PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE - CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS

NAPP's Professional Development Committee meets virtually every month on the first Thursday of the Month  @ 12 Eastern. Perspective volunteers are welcome to attend the monthly meeting to gain first-hand knowledge of the committee. Please contact Anne Fahrni ([email protected]) to be invited for the committee meeting.