Patently-O Bits and Bytes No. 11

• Pharma/Biotech Patent Claim Drafting and Prosecution: West Coast patent attorneys Joyce Morrison and Robin Silva are chairing the ACI pharma/biotech patent drafting and prosecution conference Feb 25–26 in New York City. Donald Zuhn of PatentDocs will be signing autographs and PTO officials (including TC 1600 Director Kisliuk) will explain the new PTO examination mindframe. Patently-O readers use Keycode SP1 to save $200 on the registration fee: www.americanconference.com/claimdrafting.
• Duke IP & Cyberlaw folks are hosting their annual “Hot Topics” workshop on Feb 29 in Durham. I had a wonderful time at last year’s event, but won’t be able to make it this year. The program includes a big discussion of Tafas v. Dudas. [LINK]
• E.D.Texas Jury: $431 Million to Doctor Bruce Saffran from Boston Scientific. [Link][Patent]
• Best name for a patent enforcement company: the “National Institute for Strategic Technology Acquisition and Commercialization” has just sued Ford. NISTAC is a non-profit run by K-State. Interestingly, according to Stu Soffer the patents were originally owned by Ford and then donated to the predecessor of NISTAC in 1997. (Ford claimed a charitable deduction of $27 million). The patents were listed as for sale in the April 2006 Ocean Tomo auction, but were were withdrawn prior to live bidding.
• Congratulations to Jennifer Kurcz; David Ciesielski; and Paula Fritsch who recently became partners at MBHB LLP. We started as first-year associates on the same day way back when.
• Patent Law Jobs posted in the last two weeks:
• IP Counsel - Corporation - Atlanta.
• Patent Counsel / Patent Agent - Small Corporation - Cambridge, Mass.
• Director of the Office of Technology Management & Industry Relations - Columbia, Mo.
• Electrical and Mechanical Patent Associates - Law Firm - Washington D.C.
• Patent Counsel - Small Corporation - King of Prussia, Pa.
• Patent Prosecution (EE) - Law Firm - Cary, N.C.
• Biomedical Prosecution - Law Firm - Bellevue, Wash.
• Corporate Counsel - Large Corporation - St. Louis, Mo.
• Attorney / Agent - Law Firm - Syracuse & Rochester, N.Y.
• Patent Attorney - Large Corporation - Washington, D.C.