Scandal at the US Patent Office

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: RJR PIA <RJR () PIAUSA org>
Date: May 10, 2006 10:12:42 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Scandal at the US Patent Office


For IP if you deem of interest.

Ronald J Riley, President
Professional Inventors Alliance
www.PIAUSA.org
RJR (at) PIAUSA.org
Change "at" to @
RJR Direct # (202) 318-1595

====

A major scandal is brewing at the United States Patent & Trademark  
Office
(USPTO).  This may lead to a shakeup of USPTO management.

Freedom of information (FOI) has been used to uncover documents casting
serious doubt on the way that the USPTO is being managed.

Serious charges have been raised in a pleading regarding inventor  
Campana,
Jr.  reexamination (now deceased) titled "Response to Final Office  
Action of
February 24, 2006" , filed April 24, 2006, Docket No. 4967.200006.  The
document alleges  "The PTO Engaged in Improper Communications.", pp.  
74-92
Campana, Jr's. representatives  make charges naming Deputy Under  
Secretary
of Commerce Kassinger and others (pp. 77-80) as well as the Canadian
Minister of Industry (pp. 80-81) with allegations of improper
communications.  The alleged actions may run afoul of the Foreign Agents
Registration Act , alleging lobbying on behalf of  both a foreign  
government
and a foreign party.

In addition, the document alleges that Campana, Jr's. representatives
"presented compelling evidence that the Telenor documents have been
altered".  This allegation is more credible because RIM was caught  
foisting
fabricated evidence on the court in the RIM v. NTP case.

Research in Motion has been involved in numerous patent disputes,  
most of
which involve allegations that the Canadian company has pirated American
inventions.  The cases include NTP (settled), University of Texas  
(settled),
Eatoni.com (pending - injunction risk), and Visto (pending - injunction
risk).

RIM and like minded companies banded together, conducting a massive
disinformation campaign painting themselves as having been victimized by
patent holders who dared to defend their patent rights.  Our  
organization
has received a tip that this coalition consists of nearly a dozen  
companies
who each contributed $250,000.  The source alleged that this money  
was used
to hire two public relations firms to promote the story of patent  
abuse to
media.

Over the last decade the USPTO has become increasingly politicized,  
and has
exhibited a pattern of inappropriate conduct when faced with  
political hot
potatoes like the RIM (Blackberry) v. NTP dispute.  Many inventors and
patent attorneys have communicated their concerns regarding this  
trend to me
over the last decade but have been reluctant to take a public stand,  
fearing
USPTO retaliation.  It is well known in the inventor and legal community
that the USPTO will punish those who speak out publicly.  The problem  
has
steadily grown to the point that there has been increasing discussion  
in the
inventor community of going public.

I communicated this situation to Jon Dudas, Under Secretary of  
Commerce for
Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and  
Trademark
Office during a meeting at the USPTO early last December and was assured
that these problems would not continue during his watch.  I was  
amazed to
see outrageous conduct by the office shortly thereafter in the NTP
reexamination.

A month or so ago a new bill was introduced in the House of  
Representatives
by Howard Berman featuring the wish list of patent pirates and shortly
thereafter followed by a hearing  featuring Microsoft and RIM
representatives as the lead speakers.  Jon Dudas was a prominent  
speaker.
It is interesting that he elected to provide a supporting role for  
such a
biased forum.

As the Exec Dir. of  InventorEd.org and the President of the  
Professional
Inventor's Alliance PIAUSA.org I am privy to a great deal of information
about this and other David versus Goliath patent battles.

A PDF file is available on request of the relevant pages of the  
referenced
document (one meg).   Write for the PDF file.

Ronald J Riley, President
Professional Inventors Alliance
www.PIAUSA.org
RJR (at) PIAUSA.org
Change "at" to @
RJR Direct # (202) 318-1595






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