Biotechnology/Chemical/Pharmaceutical Customer Partnership

Tuesday, February 3rd, 2004

United States Patent and Trademark Office

Alexandria, Virginia

The most recent quarterly meeting for the Biotechnology and Chemical Pharmaceutical Customer Partnership was held on October 29, 2003 at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.  The Biotechnology and Chemical Pharmaceutical Customer Partnership is designed and developed to be a forum to share ideas, experiences, and insights between individual users and the USPTO.  The USPTO does not intend to use these customer partnership groups to arrive at any consensus.  Invitations to participate will indicate that individual opinions are sought, rather than a group consensus and that the meetings are intended to be informal in nature and have varying participants.  These customer partnership groups are formed with full recognition of the USPTO's responsibility under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), and that these customer partnership groups are not established as FACA compliant committees. 

We value our customers in obtaining feedback from individual participants is important in our efforts to continuously improve the quality of our products and services.  Your willing participation is helpful in providing us with insights and experiences in this informal process to assist us.

The next meeting of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Biotechnology and Chemical Pharmaceutical Customer Partnership is scheduled for Tuesday, February 3rd, 2004, from 9:00 am to 4:30 pm at Carlyle Campus, Alexandria, Virginia.  Exact location will be provided later.

Please contact Cecilia Tsang at 703-308-0254 on and before January 15, at 571-272-0562 after January 15, 2004, or by fax at 703-746-7144 on and before January 15, at 571-273-0562, or email Cecilia.Tsang@uspto.gov or contact Jacqueline Bell at 703-308-6919 or by fax 703-305-3900 or email Jacqueline.bell@uspto.gov to decline or confirm your attendance by January 26, 2004.

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Time	Morning Session	Presenter
9:00-9:15 AM	Greetings and Overview	Jasemine C. Chambers, John Doll, Bruce Kisliuk Directors, TC 1600
9:15 – 9:45 AM	Carlyle Update	Richard Bertsch
9:45 – 10:15 AM	New PCT Search and Examination Guidelines	Jasemine C. Chambers
10:15 – 10:45 AM	Update: Unity of Invention Study and Restriction Action	Bruce Kisliuk, Director, TC 1600
10:45 – 11:00 AM	Break
11:00 – 12:00 AM	E-Government Issues/Practice	John Doll et al., Director, TC 1600
12:00-1:30 PM	Lunch

Time	Afternoon Session	Presenter
1:30 – 2:15 PM	Examination Practice: Chemical Polymorphs	Sreenivasan Padmanabhan SPE, Art Unit 1617
2:15 – 3:00 PM	Examination Practice: iRNA	John LeGuyader, SPE, Art Unit 1635
3:00 -  3:15 PM	Break
3:15 – 4:15 PM	Rules Packages Update	Robert Spar, Office of  Patent Legal Administration
4:15 – 4:30 PM