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We have the pleasure of having an administrator
for a regional patent pro bono program speak

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with us today.

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Hello, my name is Bob Pimm, and I'm the Director
of Legal services for the California lawyers

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for the arts.

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We're the administrator for the California
inventor's assistance program.

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Please tell us your experience as an administrator
and how do you help the local inventor community?

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For the California inventors assistance program
what we do is we screen clients who come forward

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to us who are independent inventors or small
business.

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So who can qualify for the pro bono program?

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This is a very important questions because
many people who hear about pro bono services,

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naturally want to apply to the program.

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But it isn't really suitable for every kind
of independent inventor.

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The most important thing to understand is
that itis really a program designed for people

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of very limited means, and so the starting
point is the federal poverty guidelines for

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an individual.

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For this program, the USPTO decided to take
the federal poverty guideline, the current

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guideline, and multiply it by three hundred
percent and then add four thousand dollars

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per individual in the household.

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But that's just the starting point.

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Certainly, for a Californian inventor's assistance
program we look at a lot more than and then

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just that simple formula, and other regional
programs to also look at more things than

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that as well.

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What should an inventor do before applying to
the program?

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One thing inventors might want to do is take
a look at the resources available on the USPTO's

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website before they begin the application
process.

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There's a lot of resources there -- there is information
about the fees, and they can get a lot of

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information, and their expectations can be
better set and understood about the process.

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If they take a look at those resources that
are there before they begin the process.

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Another thing they can do is contact one of
the regional programs and ask questions before

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they even start the process of doing the application
because the regional programs are there to

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answer questions even before they start the
application.

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So that might be a good thing to do.