These are exciting times for the BPLA!

As President of the BPLA, I have had the honor of participating in a series of Section 101 Reform Roundtable discussions held by members of the United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property. The participants at these Roundtables have included interested stakeholders, members of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and congressional staff. My sincere gratitude to the BPLA Board of Governors for working with me to prepare the written submissions for these Roundtable discussions. Members who have an interest in working on comments for upcoming Roundtable discussions can contact me at to get involved.

The BPLA has been active on the local level as well. Recently, our Legislative Committee prepared and submitted written comments on S.159/ H.229, “An Act to protect innovation and entrepreneurship in the Commonwealth,” which relates to bad faith assertions regarding intellectual property. If you are interested in this topic or any other legislative issues, please contact the Committee at to get involved.

We are pleased to be working with the USPTO on a number of events and are pleased to be hosting a breakfast with USPTO Director Iancu on Monday, May 20th, at the UMass Club. In addition, this Spring, the Patent Office Practice Committee, working with the USPTO, held an informative panel discussion entitled “A Behind-The-Scenes Look at Prosecution from Both Sides” in which current and former Patent Examiners provided useful information, tips and insights. The BPLA is committed to continuing its work with other associations which share common interests with our membership. This April, I represent the BPLA as the Keynote Speaker at the World IP Review (WIPR) Influential Women in IP Launch reception, which featured speakers from the U.S. and the U.K. sharing their experiences, and contributing their advice on how best to empower women working in the field of intellectual property. In addition, the BPLA held a terrific program in conjunction with the Federal Circuit Bar Association, “From Boston and Beyond: Local and Global Implications of Recent Changes in Patent Practice.” Other events this Spring included the Biotechnology Committee and International & Foreign Practice Committee joint presentation entitled “Patent Prosecution Strategies in China.” Further, our excellent Case Law Committee has held several interesting discussions about recent IP-related court decisions. The BPLA has committees and events covering all areas of intellectual property, in addition to patent law. To that end, the International & Foreign Practice Committee ran an informative event entitled “Trademark Practice Changes in Canada” and the Trademark and Unfair Competition Committee and the Antitrust Committee ran a joint event entitled “Antitrust Scrutiny of Trademark Settlements.”

We are very pleased to announce that our Keynote Speaker for the Annual Dinner in Honor of the Judiciary on June 5th will be New York Times Best-selling Author Nathalia Holt! Nathalia will be discussing her books “Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars” and “Cured: The People Who Defeated HIV.”

The BPLA’s Summer Outing will be held at Boston’s Envoy Hotel: Lookout Rooftop and Bar, on August 14th, starting at 6:00 pm. There will be festive mocktails at both the Judges Dinner and the Summer Outing (we are working on appropriately fun names for each mocktail, so please forward fun suggestions to our Activities Chair, Kristen Salvaggio, at ).

You can learn more about all of the BPLA’s events in this issue of the Newsletter and at the under the “Meetings and Events” tab at .

Do not forget to honor your clients and inventors by nominating their inventions by June 30th for the Program via the under the “Meetings and Events” tab. The celebration is always an enjoyable event, regardless of whether your inventor is being honored or you want to join the BPLA to honor our innovation community.

I look forward to seeing you at these events!

Deirdre E. Sanders President, Boston Patent Law Association