| News |

Patent Reform: On September 16, 2011, President Obama signed the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act into law, through which the current patent system will be modified to encourage innovation, job creation and economic growth. Both Houses of Congress overwhelmingly supported the law. This Act brings some of the most major changes to the U.S. patent system since the passage of the 1952 patent statute. Among the changes are a switch from a first-to-invent system to a first-inventor-to-file system, new reexamination schemes including inter partes review, post-grant review and supplemental examination, and replacement of the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences by a Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Many changes will become effective 12 or 18 months from the enactment of the law, but other changes are effective immediately or shortly, including a 15% surcharge to almost all fees, which becomes effective on September 26, 2011.

(Washington, DC: National Cherry Blossom Festival Official Poster, by Peter Max)

| Events |

[May 2012] >> Mr. Berdo and Mr. Keefe will visit clients in Germany in May 2012.

[Apr. 2012] >> Mr. Rabin, Mr. Jeong and Dr. Zhang will visit clients in Taiwan, Korea and Japan in April 2012, and will lecture on the impact brought about by the new §102 to the scope of prior art.

[Mar. 2012] >> Rabin & Berdo is pleased to announce that Dr. Wansik You joined the firm as a patent specialist and that Mr. William E. Curry is now with the firm on a full-time basis.

[Dec. 2011- Jan. 2012] >> Dr. Zhang visited clients in China in December 2011 and January 2012, and discussed the recently enacted America Invents Act.

[Oct. 2011] >> Mr. Berdo visits clients in Japan and lectures on the America Invents Act, the Federal Circuit’s Therasence decision, and their impact on patent practice.