Thanks to the dedication and efforts of our 55 committee chairs, who lead 25 separate committees, we have seen a tremendous amount of engagement by our committees. Through April, there will have been ten different educational programs hosted or co-hosted by the BPLA, eighteen committee meetings, and two brief filings. Our membership, and the local IP community, has benefited from the efforts of our volunteers.

Our educational programs have covered a number of diverse topics. In January, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s (TTAB) Chief Judge Gerald F. Rogers provided tips for practicing at the TTAB, particularly in light of the recent rule changes that went into effect. Three months later, the TTAB and Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) sat in session at Suffolk University Law School. Judges from both Boards participated in a panel in between the sessions focused on advocacy tips. Additionally, a program was held in March in conjunction with the Federal Circuit Bar Association Bench & Bar about the evolution of patent litigation. The panel included a judge from each of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, and from the PTAB.

Programming was not limited to litigation and post-grant proceedings though. The Biotechnology Committee hosted a program about double patenting and the Copyright Committee co-hosted a program with the Copyright Society about IP protection for software post-Alice. Additional programs that occurred in April related to: (1) subject matter eligibility; (2) licensing of software, music, and marketing; (3) life sciences practice in China; (4) patent strategies in Europe; and (5) life sciences practice at the PTAB, a program that was co-hosted with the Boston Bar Association.

This year we asked our committee chairs to engage our members in committee meetings to both hear from our members about the types of programming they would like to see, and to identify members who may be interested in planning such programs or otherwise contributing to the efforts of the BPLA. Through April, there have been eighteen different committee meetings—six of the Case Law club variety, in which our members engage in discussions about recent cases, and 12 more across our 25 committees. The reception we have received about the committee meetings have been overwhelmingly positive.

During the first quarter of this year, our Committee filed two separate briefs. On February 23, 2017, led by Kia Freeman and Erik Belt, the BPLA filed an , arguing that the PTAB’s power to institute an review under § 314(a) is particular to the “petitioner.” Additional details about the brief are contained elsewhere in the newsletter. Also on February 23, 2017, led by Daniel Shores and Sandra Badin, the BPLA filed an , advocating that U.S. patent exhaustion law should not be applied to foreign sales. Additional details about the brief are also contained elsewhere in the newsletter.

Materials from a number of the programs are (and ). If you were unable to attend a program but are interested in obtaining the materials from that program, and those materials are not yet available on the BPLA website, please contact the committee chairs associated with that program or me. Likewise, to the extent you want to get involved with a committee, please contact the relevant committee chairs and me. As always, you can find out what events are scheduled to occur by visiting our .