2012-2013 Stated Meeting Committee Report Template

As you know, AIPLA has a Strategic Plan the guides the direction and activities of the Association. Each committee plays in integral role, independently and through combined efforts, in helping the Association move towards its established goals. To further align the work of the committees with the strategic objectives of the Association, we have established a template to be used by committees when preparing and submitting reports for each stated meeting, and for inclusion in the eBulletin.

As a reminder for those Chairs and Vice Chairs who saw the presentation on the Strategic Plan in Orlando and in San Francisco, and for those new Chairs and Vice Chairs, here is the current Vision, Mission, Value Statement, and Strategic Objectives

Our Vision –

AIPLA will expand its role as an innovator, powerful advocate, and visible global leader in intellectual property through our commitment to education, outreach, member service, and advocacy.

Our Mission –

We serve our members, fostering their professional and leadership development, helping nurture and mentor them as they advance within our profession, keeping them informed in an ever-evolving legal environment, and enriching the diversity of the profession in which we practice, while responding to their personal and professional needs;

We serve public policy leaders, whose mission is to develop, implement and maintain our intellectual property system, assisting them with objective and unbiased analysis, and helping establish and maintain fair and effective global laws and policies that stimulate and reward innovation and creative works in keeping with the public interest;

We serve the public,providing education as to the daily value and benefits of a strong intellectual property system that fosters incentives for creativity & innovation, while balancing the public’s interest in healthy competition, reasonable costs and basic fairness; and

We serve our association and its employees, providing sound management, financial stability, stable succession, and a vibrant, respectful and collaborative workplace environment, delivering opportunities and support for all to lead, create and thrive.


Our Values –

Passion about Intellectual Property

·  Enduring belief in the importance of intellectual property

·  Encompassing the full spectrum of intellectual property, with a global reach and a balanced pragmatic perspective

·  Demonstrating integrity, trust and objectivity by acting with clarity and transparency

A Strong Community

·  Open minded

·  Inclusive & compassionate

·  Collaborative

Committed and Visionary Professionals

·  A commitment to exceptional and pragmatic, integrated positions

·  High standards of quality & excellence

·  Demonstrating strong leadership in the field of intellectual property

·  Seeking the engagement, development & mentoring of future intellectual property leaders

Our Strategic Objectives –

There are four core strategies focused on advocacy, public education, member service, and global outreach. There are two underlying strategies to support the core: financial sustainability and governance.

Advocacy: AIPLA will provide crucial leadership and unbiased analysis leading the way for world-class policy and decision-making, while attracting membership, ideas, and resources as a highly sought after and respected thought leader.

KEY ACTIONS

  1. Re-establish legislative committee as standing investigative committee
  2. Define criteria & protocols to determine legislative priorities
  3. Establish a blue ribbon committee to evaluated current amicus procedures & recommend improvement
  4. Develop a consistent government-wide approach to addressing IP related issues throughout government
  5. Support advocacy issues through a better informed membership and public

Public Education: AIPLA will educate the public about the daily value of intellectual property so that its importance is understood and appreciated.

KEY ACTIONS

  1. Develop key Public Education message points, materials and audience targets
  2. Tailor the message to particular audiences and prioritize
  3. Disseminate Public Education tailored messages through specific channels to prioritized audiences

Member Service: AIPLA will support the professional and intellectual growth of its members through a flexible organizational framework and innovative channels of communication, delivering outstanding services, cost-effective programs and mentoring opportunities, thereby ensuring that AIPLA remains the premier intellectual property association, and attracts IP professionals from around the world.

KEY ACTIONS

  1. Implement a comprehensive marketing & communication strategy to exchange and engage with members on a professional and personal daily basis
  2. Drive and strengthen education opportunities
  3. Maximize the use of electronic communication to encourage a collaborative exchange among members globally.
  4. Establish a regional/local networking plan to be energized through the committee structure
  5. Improve the effectiveness of the membership structure and tailor benefits
  6. Improve the process for recruiting and retaining members
  7. Effectively manage resources to drive accomplish member service objectives
  8. Increase and improve support for AIPLA’s member services through staff and leadership training.

Global Outreach: AIPLA will expand its influence to the global community and provide leadership and guidance for the development of sound global intellectual property standards, laws and policies

KEY ACTIONS

  1. Establish a consistent international presence
  2. Reorganize membership committees into coherent international unit
  3. Establish a task force of thought leaders in global realm
  4. Strengthen ties and partnerships with global organizations, associations & government entities
  5. Create mechanisms to provide advocacy, information & leadership in global IP

AIPLA integrates financial sustainability into all of its activities undertaken in support of the Strategic Initiative, but also evaluates all activities through the lens of our Strategic Plan.

KEY ACTIONS

  1. Establishing resource needs for each strategy
  2. Providing for economies of scale through integration of strategies

Governance and organizational structure will be reviewed and adjusted as we move forward, and as further implications become clear during implementation.

KEY ACTIONS

  1. Proposing a provisional governing structure which provides board leadership to steer membership committees to implement strategic plan
  2. Designing board oversight to guide and support the strategies

Each strategy has a board level team that is driving the individual activities related to achieving the strategies identified. Some committees may have already heard from one or two strategic objective groups to advance the projects they have planned, others will be hearing from them soon. We ask that each committee thoroughly review the overall plan for the Association, and think about developing a work plan for the coming Association year, and for future years. We’d like to hear from you about what you believe your committee can contribute to the four core strategies. Important Note: You may not have items to report for each specific strategy, and that’s OK. Please focus on those areas that you feel your committees activities will contribute to the overall goals of the Association.

AIPLA Committee Report

DATE: October 17, 2012 MEETING: Annual Meeting 2012

COMMITTEE NAME: Patent Agents Committee

COMMITTEE LEADERSHIP: Esther Kepplinger, Chair

SUBCOMMITTEES:

DISCUSS THE OVERALL MISSION OF THE COMMITTEE AS IT RELATES TO AIPLA’s VISION, MISSION, and VALUES: This committee serves to provide members with updates on the evolving legal landscape and current information about changes to practice and procedure before the USPTO. We assist in strengthening the patent system by providing feedback and suggestions to officials from the USPTO regarding its internal issues and problems. We strive to provide an environment which assists patent agents in growth and development within their career by offering practical information which helps maintain and improve the skills and knowledge essential to successful performance in this occupation.

DISCUSS THE COMMITTEES ACTIVITIES RELATED TO ADVOCACY, PLEASE ALSO INCLUDE COOPERATION WITH OTHER COMMITTEES TO SUPPORT THESE ACTIVITIES, if any: This committee seeks input on the USPTO Federal Register notices regarding proposed rule changes and coordinates feedback to the AIPLA for inclusion in its comments. In particular, this committee will continue to work with the Special Task Force on AIA Rulemaking, the Special Committee on Legislation and the Patent Relations With The USPTO Committees.

DISCUSS THE COMMITTEES ACTIVITIES RELATED TO PUBLIC EDUCATION, PLEASE ALSO INCLUDE COOPERATION WITH OTHER COMMITTEES TO SUPPORT THESE ACTIVITIES, if any: The committee generally offers a presentation by an official from the USPTO at each committee meeting to disseminate recent patent office statistics and information and updates about newly available programs of interest to practitioners. Occasionally, we provide a presentation on significant case law developments. Typically, our committee holds a joint meeting with the Patent Relations With The USPTO and on occasion, we have held a joint meeting with the PCT Committee.

At the Spring 2012 meeting, we held a one-hour joint meeting with the Patent Relations With the USPTO Committee offering an update by Commissioner Peggy Focarino. Information provided by Commissioner Focarino included the status on AIA implementation efforts, results of the push to reduce the backlog of unexamined patent applications (reduced to 640,000), and that the backlog of RCEs had risen to almost 90,000. She also reported on the satellite office plans and the new programs to provide time for examiners to consider amendments after final rejection and the program, QPIDS, which provides a mechanism for consideration of new unknown prior art after the payment of the issue fee.

During the Annual Meeting, we will hold a one-hour joint meeting with the Patent Relations With The USPTO Committee featuring a presentation by Chris Kim on the CPC, the new classification system, and also an explanation by Andy Faile, Deputy Commissioner for Patent Operations, on a proposed study about causes of RCEs.

DISCUSS THE COMMITTEES ACTIVITIES RELATED TO MEMBER SERVICE, PLEASE ALSO INCLUDE COOPERATION WITH OTHER COMMITTEES TO SUPPORT THESE ACTIVITIES, if any:

DISCUSS THE COMMITTEES ACTIVITIES RELATED TO GLOBAL OUTREACH, PLEASE ALSO INCLUDE COOPERATION WITH OTHER COMMITTEES TO SUPPORT THESE ACTIVITIES, if any: