I write this letter reflecting on a busy fall season for our organization.

We also provided written comments to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in response to the USPTO’s request for information on the current state of patent eligibility jurisprudence. Our comments outlined views on how that jurisprudence is impacting investment and innovation in key areas such as computing, artificial intelligence, diagnostics, and pharmaceutical technologies.

In November, we celebrated New England innovation and our featured inventor honorees at the 11th Annual Invented Here! Awards Event. Additionally, out Trademarks and Unfair Competition Committee hosted Amy Cotton, Deputy Commissioner for Examination Policy at the USPTO, who spoke about the Trademark Modernization Act and its implementation at the USPTO.

Looking ahead, we have our BPLA annual meeting taking place virtually on December 8. At this meeting, we will finalize our business for 2021 and elect our officers for the coming year. We will vote on a new by-law amendment that introduces a new class of membership, Academic Membership, which covers full-time law school faculty and individuals whose primary employment is teaching intellectual property law or practice. We will be joined by our keynote speaker, Charles Kim, Director of the Office of Petitions at the USPTO and co-chair of the USPTO’s Artificial Intelligence Working Group, who will be speaking about AI policy and implementation at the USPTO. Finally, we will be presenting our first pro bono award to a soon-to-be-named BPLA member who has been instrumental in providing significant and meaningful pro bono services in their practice.

In closing, I am pleased and honored to have served as President of BPLA. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to those who have helped and encouraged me throughout my time on the Board of Governors, including my colleague and BPLA past-president, Neil Ferraro, and the members of the Board of Governors, past and present, for their thoughts, insights, and collegiality. I would also like to thank our committee co-chairs and our administrator, Constance Brennan, for their work through the year. Finally, I wish to thank my firm, Wolf Greenfield, for supporting me as President, as well as Kevin MacDonald, our Activities and Public Relations Chair, and Jacqueline Chappo for excellent work on our signature events this year.