July 2021

29 Jul

Law360 Analysis: Retiring Federal Circuit Judge Kathleen O’Malley ft. Eli Mazour

Articles, Firm News, Team Eli Mazour, federal circuit, harrity & harrity, IP, ip news, Law360, patents, USPTO

In Praising O’Malley, Attys Call For District Judge To Fill Seat

Harrity Partner Eli Mazour is featured in Law360’s recent analysis regarding retiring Federal Circuit Judge Kathleen O’Malley as an IP expert..

Law360 (July 28, 2021, 9:43 PM EDT) — Retiring Federal Circuit Judge Kathleen O’Malley is the only member of the court who has served as a district judge, a background that attorneys say provided a necessary perspective that informed her incisive decisions and that they hope to see in her eventual replacement…

“Judge O’Malley’s departure will likely be cause for concern among patent owners, said Eli Mazour of Harrity & Harrity LLP, because she was viewed as more pro-patent than other Federal Circuit judges, particularly on the issue of patent eligibility.”

Read more on what Eli and the other experts have to say at Law360.com.

28 Jul

Black-Owned IP Law Firm Emerges in Orlando via Minority Firm Incubator

Harrity & Harrity

Diversity, Driving Diversity, Firm News black owned, diversity, IP, james bennin, legal diversity, minorities in IP, minority owned, patents

(July 27, 2021) Dan Roe interviews James Bennin on the launch of the Onyx IP Group for Law.com.

James Bennin’s Onyx IP Group is the first minority-owned firm produced by the Minority Firm Incubator, which Harrity & Harrity launched in 2019 with the aim of increasing diversity in the legal profession.

“There’s a need to increase the amount of diversity in the legal field, especially in the patent field,” said Bennin, who is the first college graduate in his immediate family. “Looking at my career, I guess I’ve been fortunate to have the career I’ve had. I felt it was incumbent on me to give back.”

The article, by Dan Roe, can be read in full on Law.com.

About Onyx IP Group

With combined experience (private practice and in-house) in the electrical, software and mechanical technology areas, the Onyx IP Group provides legal counseling for patent drafting, patent prosecution, trademark, and transactional matters. Visit us online at https://onyxipgroup.com

See more on Harrity’s diversity initiatives: https://harrityllp.com/diversity

Check out our Driving Diversity vlog: https://harrityllp.com/thediversitychannel

About Harrity & Harrity, LLP:

Harrity & Harrity, headquartered in Fairfax, Va., is a leading patent preparation and prosecution firm specializing in the electrical and mechanical technology areas. The firm has obtained more than 8,000 patents since its founding in 1999. Our clients trust in our high-quality work, experienced people, industry-leading innovation, and outstanding service. Harrity actively promotes diversity and inclusion at the firm and throughout the legal industry, with an additional focus on giving back to the community through Harrity 4 Charity. Visit us online at https://harrityllp.com

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28 Jul

Driving Diversity with Elaine Spector | Episode 26

Harrity & Harrity

Diversity, Driving Diversity, Firm News, Team diversity, Elaine Spector, legal diversity, patent bar, vlog, women in ip, women in law

Join Harrity’s Elaine Spector as she shares tips and sparks conversations to drive diversity in the legal field in her weekly vlog, ‘Driving Diversity.’

EPISODE TWENTY SIX| ARE WINEB LAWYERS PAYING ENOUGH ATTENTION TO UPWARD MOBILITY

To learn more about Harrity’s diversity efforts, visit harrityllp.com/diversity. For more diversity resources, including all Driving Diversity episodes, check out The Diversity Channel.

21 Jul

Driving Diversity with Elaine Spector | Episode 25

Harrity & Harrity

Diversity, Driving Diversity, Firm News, Team diversity, diversity lab, Elaine Spector, legal diversity, mansfield rule, patent bar, vlog, women in ip, women in law

Join Harrity’s Elaine Spector as she shares tips and sparks conversations to drive diversity in the legal field in her weekly vlog, ‘Driving Diversity.’

EPISODE TWENTY-FIVE | THE MANSFIELD RULE

To learn more about Harrity’s diversity efforts, visit harrityllp.com/diversity. For more diversity resources, including all Driving Diversity episodes, check out The Diversity Channel.

16 Jul

Harrity Recognized as IAM Patent 1000 Highly Recommended Firm

Harrity & Harrity

Firm News harrity, IAM, patent firms, patent law, quality, top patent firms

Harrity & Harrity has been recognized in the IAM Patent 1000 as a Highly Recommended Firm for the third year in a row in the DC metro area. Since 2015, Harrity has made the coveted IAM Patent 1000 list as a Recommended Firm or higher. The rankings are based off extensive research in the region of 1,800 interviews with numerous attorneys at law, patent attorneys and in-house counsel to gather market intelligence on the leading players in the field, according to IAM.

The publication said the following of Harrity’s ranking:

“Efficient, timely and cost effective”, Harrity & Harrity is the preferred choice of many when it comes to patent prosecution. A “role model”, it has “implemented some clever procedures and modes of operation, enabling it to consistently deliver work of the very highest standard of quality”. Central to this are the thorough second-attorney review system and uniform writing style championed by founding partners John Harrity and Paul Harrity, who are also responsible for the boutique’s innovation drive, by which large numbers of statistics are tracked so that performance can be precisely measured and improvements implemented. These improvements are often underpinned by technology such as the massive proprietary database that the firm uses to drive intelligent prosecution and its interactive Patent 300 dashboard, which gives clients access to rare insights harvested by the patent analytics group. The software experts here had a busy 2020, developing several new products, such as a patent drafting tool designed to help their attorney colleagues – including the Harrity brothers and Paul Gurzo – focus on patent quality as opposed to more administrative tasks.

Click HERE to see the full Patent 1000 list and to learn more.

15 Jul

IPO Submits Comments to Supreme Court of Florida on Diversity of Faculty for CLE Programs

Harrity & Harrity

Diversity, Firm News, Team CLE, diversity, Elaine Spector, IPO, legal diversity, patent bar, patent law, women in ip, women in law

Harrity’s Elaine Spector helped prepare comments, on behalf of IPO, submitted to the Supreme Court of Florida in response an order issued on April 15 regarding a recently adopted policy regulating the composition of faculty at section-sponsored continuing legal education (CLE) programs. The Court noted that “quotas based on characteristics like the ones in this policy are antithetical to basic American principles of nondiscrimination.”

Elaine also covered this topic in Episode 19 and Episode 21 of Driving Diversity, a weekly vlog series covering important issues related to improving diversity in the legal field.

IPO’s comments, which were prepared with assistance by several additional members of IPO’s Diversity & Inclusion and Women in IP Committees, noted four main issues: 1) A rule requiring a minimum number of diverse panelists advances diversity and the quality of programming with no evidence of harm; 2) the Court fails to offer any guidance on permitted diversity policies moving forward; 3) the order could have a chilling effect on addressing current structural and ongoing inequity; and 4) sua sponte revision of the rule, without notice, will cause harm to Florida attorneys and diversity of the Florida Bar

Read the full response below.

In-The-Supreme-Court-of-Florida-Comments

12 Jul

IP Watchdog on Rallying Call for More Diversity: Featuring Research by Harrity’s LaTia Brand & Elaine Spector

Harrity & Harrity

Diversity, Firm News, Team diversity, Elaine Spector, forbes, LaTia Brand, legal diversity, patent bar, patent law, women in ip, women in law

Harrity’s LaTia Brand & Elaine Spector’s research regarding the the gender gap and lack of diversity in the field of patent law, specifically as it pertains to women in the space, was quoted in a recent IP Watchdog Article, On Tiffany Cunningham’s Appointment to the CAFC: An Impeccable Candidate and a Rallying Call for More Diversity in IP.

Cunningham is the first African-American, and therefore first African-American woman, to join the Federal Circuit bench. “Although a cause for celebration, this momentous occasion should not be wasted in self-congratulation but rather should provide momentum for further public and private efforts to increase diversity at the most senior echelons of the IP bar. Without a ready supply of diverse and qualified candidates, we remain in danger of this important ‘first’ becoming a ‘last.'”

Read the full article on IPWatchdog.com.

7 Jul

Driving Diversity with Elaine Spector | Episode 23

Harrity & Harrity

Diversity, Driving Diversity, Firm News, Team diversity, Elaine Spector, legal diversity, patent bar, vlog, women in ip, women in law

Join Harrity’s Elaine Spector as she shares tips and sparks conversations to drive diversity in the legal field in her weekly vlog, ‘Driving Diversity.’

EPISODE TWENTY THREE | MARYLAND LEGAL EDUCATION SUCCESS COLLABORATIVE

To learn more about Harrity’s diversity efforts, visit harrityllp.com/diversity. For more diversity resources, including all Driving Diversity episodes, check out The Diversity Channel.

6 Jul

New Clause 8 Episode: Josh Landau – On Lobbying for Weaker Patent Rights and ‘Making a PB&J Sandwich’

Harrity & Harrity

Clause 8, Firm News, General, Team, USPTO Clause 8, Eli Mazour, IntuitiveX, ip news, Josh Landau, patent, supreme court, USPTO

Eli Mazour‘s Clause 8 Podcast, The Voice of IP, has returned for Season 2, featuring all new exclusive interviews with the intellectual property community’s biggest names.

The first episode of this season of Clause 8 featured the most recent USPTO Director – Andrei Iancu – discussing his efforts to strengthen America’s patent system over the last three years. One of the most publicly vocal opponents of those efforts was Josh Landau, patent counsel at the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA). Now that those views are in ascendancy in the Biden administration and Congress, it made sense to finish this season by talking to Josh.

This is an incredibly insightful episode exploring first hand how the patent process helps innovative individuals and small companies bring their ideas to fruition. Listen here!

On today’s podcast:

The role of the CCIA in the patent debate
The failure of Section 101 legislation in the last Congress
The “patent quality” problem
How the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) operates
Patent policy advocacy on Capitol Hill
Patent policy in Trump v Biden administration
Is the patent system unfair to patent owners in any way?
Why do different patent attorneys have such different views of the patent system?
US inventors
The “peanut butter and jelly sandwich” patent

You can subscribe and listen to the full episode on your favorite podcasting app and learn more at voiceofIP.com. All Season 2 episodes are available now!