This quarter’s Advocate is on the subject of discovery disputes, and is full of great articles. It’s available here, and my favorite article by San Antonio Judge Xavier Rodriguez, “My Responses to These Discovery Requests Were Reasonable, Right? Navigating Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(g)(1)” is available here.
Just got off a meeting of the governing council for the State Bar of Texas’ IP Law section, and we got a presentation from Director Shimabuku about what’s taking place at the PTO.
Director Shimabuku gave the IP Council I serve on an update on the PTO’s recent activity this morning, and one item jumped out.
Across the street from the Old Stone Fort on the Stephen F. Austin State University campus in Nacogdoches, Texas sits the brand-new Cole STEM center. I am fortunate to be spending the day in this beautiful facility at the pro bono intellectual property workshop for East Texas inventors and entrepreneurs that’s being jointly presented by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the State Bar of Texas IP Section.
The pro bono program is designed to provide basic information on securing patent and trademark rights, and includes both substantive presentations, small group meetings to focus on specific topics, and short one-on-one consultations with intellectual property lawyers.
The program just kicked off with introductions from Joe Cleveland for the Section and Jacob Choi for the USPTO before starting with an IP overview by Dr. Shubha Ghosh, which is what’s happening now.
We’ll cover IP generally, and patent law and patent prosecution basics first, then move into trademarks, and PTO systems (remote filing and prior raft searching). We’ll then have breakouts by IP type including software, mechanical/electrical and consumer products.
After that, we’ll have one-on-one sessions with the IP lawyers in attendance, which is why I and a number of other Texas IP practitioners are present – to answer attendees’ questions about the system and the process. (I even brought my patents for show and tell).
The IP Section and the USPTO have successfully presented this program to underserved communities across Texas in Corpus Christi, the Rio Grande Valley, Fort Worth, El Paso and Waco. A pro bono tour to Lubbock is scheduled for spring 2020.
Joe Cleveland, chair of pro bono tour, tells me that without exception, every lawyer who has participated in the program has greatly enjoyed the opportunity to give back to our community in such a unique and significant way, and although it’s only 9 am I can understand why.
I am pleased to report that the September issue of the State Bar of Texas Intellectual Property Law Section’s quarterly TIPSheet newsletter is out. It’s the first since I assumed the duties of editing it, and I’ve enjoyed the process and look forward to getting to work on the December issue. Don’t worry – no bad jokes or arcane historical references. (Yet).
In addition to Section news and information, it features a substantive article on tomorrow’s Pro Bono IP Workshop in Nacogdoches, which I’ll be attending to fetch drinks for the real patent lawyers, as well as one on recent amendments to the Texas Citizens Participation Act (TCPA)—also known as the Texas anti-SLAPP statute.
Section members get an email with a link to the individual articles and sections – the link below is the entire newsletter in one file. I hope you enjoy it.
On Thursday, September 12, 2019 there will be a pro bono intellectual property workshop for East Texas inventors and entrepreneurs on the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University. The event is co-organized by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the State Bar of Texas IP Section.
The pro bono program is designed to provide basic information on securing patent and trademark rights, and includes small group meetings to focus on specific topics and short one-on-one consultations with intellectual property lawyers. Attendance at this program is estimated to be around 50-60 people.
The location for the workshop is the Cole STEM facility on the SFA campus in Nacogdoches and will help showcase the presentation to the greater East Texas inventor and business community.
The IP Section and the USPTO have successfully presented this program to underserved communities across Texas in Corpus Christi, the Rio Grande Valley, Fort Worth, El Paso and Waco. Nacogdoches will continue the pro bono tour into East Texas. A pro bono tour to Lubbock is scheduled for spring 2020.
Joe Cleveland, chair of pro bono tour, tells me that without exception, every lawyer who has participated in the program has greatly enjoyed the opportunity to give back to our community in such a unique and significant way. Here are a sampling of the comments the IP Section received from the tour’s last stop in Waco:
“We are excited to see our innovation economy grow and your work this past week will contribute significantly!”
Dr. Jeremy Vickers, Associate Vice President, Baylor University
“Your service to the bar and to the public is greatly appreciated!”
Leah Jackson Teague, Associate Dean, Baylor Law
“Thank you for bringing so much value to our community.”
Greg W. Leman, Executive Director, Start Up Waco
Joe is looking for 12-15 good IP lawyers who would be willing to participate in the Nacogdoches program on Thursday, September 12, 2019 from 8AM to 4PM. If you may be interested, please contact Joe as soon as possible, and he will provide further details. He can be reached at 817-339-2454 or jcleveland@belaw.com.
