President Grewal introduced Board Member Michael McGurk to announce the winners of the BPLA’s Annual Writing Competition.

Board Member McGurk announced that Ms. Ying Chen, from Boston University School of Law, was awarded the first place prize and $1,000 for her article entitled

Board Member McGurk then announced a tie for second place between Maya Fe Holzhauer, from Northeastern School of Law, for her article entitled and Liza Hadley, from Boston University School of Law, for her article entitled The second place winners were each awarded a prize of $500. Board Member McGurk congratulated the winners on their excellent submissions.

President Grewal introduced Drew Hirshfeld, Commissioner of Patents at the USPTO.

In his remarks, Commissioner Hirshfeld provided a window into the USPTO, where he gave the Association insight into the inner workings and priorities of the office. Commissioner Hirshfeld reported the patent workforce at the USPTO consists of approximately 10,000 employees, and the division’s priorities include reducing pendency, increasing examination quality, and increasing examiner training. He explained that the USPTO has made strides in each of these areas, and that initiatives aimed at further improvements through metrics-based analysis of the examination process are underway. He further noted that the USPTO is conducting an evaluation of guidelines that instruct examiners on the appropriate time to spend on the various tasks performed in conjunction with their job. Commissioner Hirshfeld also encouraged the members of the Association to take advantage of the examiner interview procedure, and he reported on expansions to a prior art search pilot project with the Japanese and Korean patent offices. The Commissioner’s slides have been posted on the BPLA website and can be found by.

Secretary Young moved to waive the reading of the meeting minutes from the December 7, 2016, Annual Meeting, which were published in the BPLA Fall Newsletter. The motions to waive the reading and approve meeting minutes carried.

Secretary Young also moved to adopt the amendment to the BPLA Bylaws to update the list of Standing Committees. The motion was seconded and approved by unanimous consent.

Immediate Past President Belt moved for acceptance of the nominations of the Officers and election of the nominees. The motion was seconded and carried.

Immediate Past President Belt reported that, as previously announced by the Association, the three Board Member positions would be filled by election on secret ballots between the candidates of Joshua Dalton, Esq., Rachel Emsley, Esq., Daniel McGrath, Esq., and Rebecca McNeill, Esq. Secret ballots were provided to all members of the Association in attendance eligible to vote pursuant to the Bylaws. Past President Leslie Meyer-Leon was appointed as Election Commissioner. The votes were tallied and the Association announced after the conclusion of the meeting that Mr. Dalton, Ms. Emsley, and Ms. McNeill were elected to the Board Member positions. Thus, in accordance with the Bylaws of the Association, the 2018 Board of Governors of the BPLA were duly elected.

President Grewal thanked the Association for another great year of successful and impactful events to advance intellectual property law. She also thanked the Board of Governors and her colleagues for their support, with special thanks to her assistants and Activities Chair, Emily Whelan.

Outgoing President Grewal passed the BPLA presidential gavel to incoming President Pheiffer. President Pheiffer thanked Immediate Past President Grewal for her dedication and awarded her with a BPLA rocking chair in gratitude and recognition for her service.