Tag Archives: Notre Dame

Welcome MSPL class of 2016

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ND

A post from our (graduate) student blogger Megan

Wow, this is the twentieth blog I’ve written since August. This is it—the last blog I will ever write for the MSPL. I’m not going to tell you how sad I am because in reality, I’m not. The MSPL has set all of us up for success. I’m excited about the future, proud of my accomplishments, and ready to graduate. And on that note, I want to dispense a little advice to the class of 2016 (read this with a funky beat and some background music kind of like Baz Luhrmann’s “Wear Sunscreen”). So here we go, in no particular order are my top ten tips for success in the MSPL:

  1. Expand your horizons, do more, go the distance, get the total experience.

If you made it past the admissions gatekeeper at ND—whom I imagine is a larger-than-life bouncer that views lowly candidates with disdain and throws them to the side with a bellowing laugh—then you have reason to celebrate. You have the opportunity to come to Notre Dame. Wait, did you hear me? You’re at THE Notre Dame… Yeah, that school. The school that has movies made about it and filmed right on campus (ever seen Rudy? If you haven’t, you must watch it before you set foot on this campus, trust me, you will be inspired). Take advantage of the opportunities here and meet the standard—it’s high—but it is worth it.

  1. Get frustrated.

Yep. You will be. At some point during your time here in the MSPL you are going to hit a massive wall like taking an Olympic high dive into a pool, fifty feet deep, full of solid, hardened concrete. Whether it is a tough elective class or an inability to understand the technology that you have to draft a patent application on, you will find difficulty in this program. But difficulty doesn’t mean that it is impossible; on the contrary, it is possible and you will rise to the occasion. When you do hit your wall, stop, step back, take a breath, then resume the task the next day. It will work.

  1. When opportunity knocks, invite it in for dinner.

My mom wrote this quote in a cookbook she gave me one year. I never got past the cover page and this quote (sorry, I’m not much of a cook). But the quote speaks volumes. Everywhere you turn there is opportunity at this place and in this program. Almost every Friday we had guest lecturers that wanted to help us find jobs. We went to California and DC to network with potential employers. There is career counseling available to the MSPL through the law school and the grad school—we double up in this program—we’re pretty lucky. There is something going on all the time. Do you like sports, go to the football games. You will meet alumni there. Like uncovering a pearl inside a shell, there is some kind of opportunity for you, your career, and your life; just keep unearthing these opportunities— one will lead to the next.

  1. Network like a rock star.

If you know me, you know that this is my specialty. I love to talk to people one-on-one. I love meeting new people, making connections, and telling everyone about what I am passionate about and hearing the same from them. But even if you don’t love doing this, have no fear. ND is your place if you like science, tech, law, or anything cerebral. And you will likely connect with the people that you have class with or simply sit next to at the next football game. Hang on to these connections; they are worth a lot in the long-run.

  1. Listen. Did you hear that?

Ok. So.Yeah. This seems simple, right? Well, it’s really not. See, if you’ve been selected to join the MSPL, chances are you are an expert in some field of science, engineering, or law. You must meet certain criteria to get in to this program so you already know a lot and are likely highly educated. However, wise one, you must remember to consider everyone else’s thoughts, emotions, and opinions. Everyone carries their own monologue. Be respectful. Let others talk. You just might learn even more, grasshopper.

  1. Stop studying. Tour the campus.

Do this for two reasons: first, you’re at Notre Dame—this place is iconic; second, you need to just take a break. There is a lot of work in this program. It is intense, I won’t lie. Do not let this truly awesome place just exist around you, though. Get into it. Go to the Basilica even if you’re not Catholic. They give tours there. It’s pretty. Take a pic of touchdown Jesus when you first arrive in the summer, then one during fall, one with copious amounts of snow, and finally, one when you graduate. Cut and paste all these photos together into one and marvel at how the seasons changed while you were busy building your life. You’ll thank me for that pic on your Instagram profile.

  1. Do it right or don’t bother.

If you come here thinking that you will put forth minimal effort and you will magically receive a sparkling degree from ND, think again. Patent law is tough, it requires determination. It will take time to learn the law and how to apply that to your technology. Unless you plan to put 100% effort in, it is not worth the time or cost.

  1. Be patient.

This flows directly from #7. If you want to do something the right way, you will have to be patient. Be patient with yourself and patient with others. Slow down. Ask questions, think before you speak, help those who need it. They will help you; be grateful for this opportunity. There will be times that you will not be patient, but remember, the tortoise wins the race, eventually.

  1. Make friends, they’re your future co-workers.

If you’ve read the blogs from this past year you know that Catie, Roberto, and I all refer to the MSPL as a “family.” We do this for a reason—we really are like a family. We disagree with one another, we laugh with each other, we spend lots of time together, we fight, we make up; ultimately, even with all our quirks and idiosyncrasies, we are a tight, cohesive group. This is a good thing. If there is one thing I learned from law school, it is to be nice to your classmates. I have contacted them on more than one occasion. Patent law is a small group around the world. At some point, you are going to run into the people that you go to school with here in the future. And most likely, you will work with them, too. Be nice; they know what you went through in the past and will be more willing to be there for you in the future.

  1. Live, it up. Enjoy it.

Soak up the ND experience! You’ve heard that old saying that “it’s only life after all.” Well, that’s right, it’s just life. But if you’re going to live it, you might as well live it like tomorrow is your last day. Good luck MSPL’ers of 2016. Stay in touch, tweet me: @patlawchick or email me: musovsky@nd.edu. We’re a family, remember that.

Forever Irish

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MSPL at GSVA post from our student blogger Catie

So, here we are at the end of MSPL Boot Camp…

No, wait, I’ve completed the program and I’m graduating in less than a week! I know that it’s cliché, but where did the last 9 months go? Many of us came into the program without really knowing what we were getting ourselves into with this whole ‘patent law’ stuff, but now we’re prepared and excited for the beginning of our careers in a field that we have become engaged in. I came into the program with a weak understanding of what a patent practitioner does and I had a few misconceptions about what their day-to-day lifestyle is like in law firm and in-house settings. Although I still have plenty to learn, I feel like this program has prepared me for whatever tasks and circumstance my first few years will throw at me.

I’ve learned plenty about myself, too. That’s tacky, I know, but I really have. A year ago, as a brand-new college graduate, I enrolled into the MSPL with a vague, narrow-minded vision of what my future would be like. I was really anxious with the ambiguity of everything ahead of me, including the program itself. At this point, I still don’t necessarily know what I’ll be doing a few months from now. Believe it or not, I’m actually not too worried about it. I’ve learned that the potential of work that I could do within patent law is much broader than I expected. I’m not limited to my niche formed by my biology degree. As a matter of fact, this semester, I have been working at an internship where I have had the opportunity to work on technology in mechanical engineering, and it’s been fantastic! I’m really excited about the prospects of working with a broad array of novel technologies in my career. It was not what I had originally anticipated when I thought of myself as a patent agent, but my initial expectations have been exceeded!

I’m also excited about the possibilities of my future. There are many potential opportunities for employment, and I could still opt to further my education, whether that be law school or another higher degree. I still have hopes of someday getting a Master’s degree in genetic counseling, but for now, I want to focus on establishing myself in patent law. If I have learned anything from others in the program (from whom I’ve learned a lot), it’s that there is plenty of time to figure everything out. As one of the babies of the group, I was incredibly lucky to have my friends in the program talk to me about their backgrounds and experiences that have led to the knowledge that they have acquired along their paths. There is a lot of pressure as a soon-to-be or recent graduate to have a job and a rock-solid plan for your future. It’s almost assumed that you’re supposed to have the rest of your life paved out at 22 once you have a college diploma. Everyone in the program showed me that it’s okay to be a highly educated individual who is still trying to carve out a career, or someone who has already worked a professional job and wants to take a different path, or someone who still doesn’t know “what they want to do when they grow up”.

Speaking of the other MSPL’ers, I’m really going to miss the patent law family! We all hit it off from day one, and it led to wonderful friendships over our short year together. As much as I’m excited for the next chapter of my life, I’m sad to be leaving our little circle of friends and Notre Dame. I have to say: Notre Dame most definitely lives up to the hype! It really is a special place, and I consider myself so blessed to have had the experience of becoming part of the Fighting Irish! For that, I have my parents to thank! Attending Notre Dame and being part of the MSPL has majorly exceeded any expectations I had a year ago, and I will be forever grateful for this experience and those who made it happen.

I am now ready and excited for what my future holds, and I am reciprocally so excited to see my patent law family succeed! We have a great bond in a close-knit field, and we will from here on out be part of the great Notre Dame community. Thank you if you have taken the time to read up on any of the knowledge and experiences acquired by the MSPL bloggers; they are representative of our unique journeys through the program, and we appreciate any time that you took to read our thoughts! I am genuinely so happy and thankful to have been a member of this group of MSPL students. Within a short 9 months, Notre Dame became a new home to me, and I can easily say that enrolling in the MSPL was the best decision I could’ve made. “And our hearts forever, love thee Notre Dame!”

Catie Stevens
cmstevens8@outlook.com
LinkedIn

What’s my motivation

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A post from our student blogger Catie

After the patent application has been drafted and filed, the patent agent or attorney is still tasked with the prosecution of that application. This requires responding to Office actions regarding the application, and making arguments against any claim rejections. Basically, the patent practitioner is convincing the examiner that the patent application is complete and worthy of issuance.

In the MSPL, we are taking a course this semester that focuses on filing these responses. The process is extremely detail-oriented, and the document must be at least double or triple-checked to be sure that it meets all the meticulous formatting requirements called for by the USPTO. That’s only half of the battle. The other half is writing a response to rebut the examiner’s rejections. Some of the arguments against rejections may be simply stating and pointing out specific clauses of the patent laws that cause the rejection to be moot. That may sound pretty boring, but in some ways, these are the easiest of the rejections to which a patent practitioner may have to respond.

Other arguments may require the practitioner to argue more subjective matter. A common rejection to receive alleges that two or more earlier patents create the technology of the current application to have been an obvious improvement or combination of elements. In such a case, the practitioner has the option of formulating an argument that no motivation existed to create the invention prior to its conception and patent application filing. This kind of response to a rejection may seem more interesting than simply utilizing the law, but it is much more strategic than it sounds.

Firstly, it’s important to carefully read through the rejection to understand what components or aspects are involved in the examiner’s reasoning for the obviousness rejection. This almost always involves two or more patents or articles that the examiner cited as containing all of the elements in the technology of the current patent application. The patent practitioner must then carefully evaluate the language of the current patent application and the cited sources to determine if the examiner is correct in his or her assertion maintained by the rejection. If the examiner happened to forget an element, or possibly misinterpreted the art of the cited references, then the practitioner should (politely) point out those mistakes and assert that the technology of the current application is therefore not obvious.  It is important for the patent practitioner to formulate arguments against the rejection that are based upon the specific language and components utilized in the examiner’s rejection. This may include arguments against any motivation to combine elements from earlier patents to create the invention at any point prior to its filing.

Generally, when making an argument that no motivation existed to combine elements to create the current invention, the Teaching, Suggestion, Motivation (TSM) standard is used. This is a strategy to argue against the rejection that asserts that prior references did NOT explicitly teach that the particular elements may be combined, suggest that such a combination could be considered, or provide motivation to combine the particular elements  due to the functioning of the separate inventions. Making these arguments calls for plenty of research and focus regarding small aspects of your invention, but it definitely makes for an exciting challenge; especially considering that you get to ‘nerd-out’ on the intricacies of your technology! So, keep on searching for your motivation (or lack thereof)!

Can you handle grad school?

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A post from our student blogger Catie

What everyone tells you is true: grad school is difficult. Is anyone really surprised by that? I somewhat addressed this topic in a post from last semester, but I would like to talk about it more in-depth, incorporating reflections from my experiences from the current semester. As I have mentioned before, I was a graduating genetics senior this time last year. As recent as it seems, it was only a year ago when I myself had so many questions in my mind about what grad school would be like. Of course it’s going to be difficult: I’m entering graduate school at Notre Dame! My real question was: can I do it? Can I handle the work of graduate school? Will I be any good at this patent law stuff?

Grad school is hard; otherwise, everyone would go! I knew this, and I initially had fears that I wouldn’t be able to keep up, which is quite an ominous fear when you’re paying Notre Dame tuition! Another note of advice that you’re likely hearing is that grad school requires a lot of time management. This is also true. However, you had to master time management in undergrad, too, right? This is not something that is ever going away: the program’s visits to San Francisco and D.C. have indisputably taught us that time management will be a major theme during your career, as well.

To connect these two points of advice: have faith that you CAN survive grad school, as long as you are fully aware that you will be tasked with a new world of time management. Grad school is a whole new world. Throughout the year, during casual conversations about how school is going for me, plenty of people had made comments along the line of “you’re in college”. I have been pretty adamant in gently reminding those individuals that I am in grad school, which is most definitely different from undergrad. I am no longer simply going to school, where I am taking an array of classes; I am training for a career and doing class work that is going to prepare me for that upcoming career!

To put this into perspective: I just recently completed my final presentation for my capstone project. I survived drafting my first complete patent application! Seven months ago, I had no idea how I was going to reach this point! The thought of drafting a complete patent application on my own (with plenty of wise guidance from mentors, of course) was simply not something that I could see myself accomplishing. Here I am now, with my capstone completed, and yet I am still taking one day at a time balancing the work from my patent law classes, a group presentation for my elective, work for my internship, correspondence with potential employers, study materials for the patent bar, as well as my miscellaneous day-to-day tasks. The point that I’m trying to make is that I have already completed what I expected to be an insurmountable task, and yet I’m still trucking along and successfully balancing more than I ever thought I could. This is incredible: someone tell this to Catie from one year ago!

What I really want to get across to any prospective student is that you should not be fearful of being able to handle the work load of the MSPL. As long as you put forth the effort and are willing to learn, you will find your balance and discover yourself keeping up with the work. Grad school is a different world, but the adjustment just takes time to master, just like any other change in life. I mentioned how much I have on my plate right now, and it definitely keeps me busy. However, make no mistake: I still absolutely make time for myself. You have to make time to wind down; it’s how you’re going to draft a patent application without going insane! I allow myself to make time for the run that I wanted to go on, the trip to the Grotto that I told myself that I would make, the weekend trip home to see loved ones, and of course: the night out with classmates to watch some Notre Dame March Madness! It’s all about time management, but also making sure that you are taking breaks to take care of yourself.

Open House!

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The MSPL will be cohosting an Open House in two weeks!

I’ll give a short overview of the program, and several of our current students will be there so you can get their inside perspective on what they’re learning.

Important details:

Wednesday, November 14 at 6:00 p.m.*

Innovation Park at Notre Dame
1400 E. Angela Blvd.
South Bend, IN 46617

 

Food and beverages will be served.
Please RSVP.

We are cohosting the Open House with two other one-year MS programs here at Notre Dame: ESTEEM,  and Global Health. If you have friends who you think would be interested in either of these programs, feel free to bring them along!

I hope I will see you there!

Go Irish!
Karen

*Notre Dame is in the Eastern time zone.

Patent Pros at Work in Universities

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We take pride in noting that patent agents have a wealth of career opportunities—with law firms, the USPTO, and within corporations’ intellectual property divisions, but we haven’t yet mentioned those in our own backyard—universities eager to commercialize the technologies they’ve developed.

Take this quote from a recent article on Inc.com: “One source of new technologies is our national labs and universities that get federal funding. Their mission is to find commercial partners to bring inventions out of the lab and turn them into real products.”

Most universities now have distinct departments devoted to facilitating this process. At Notre Dame, it’s the Office of Technology Transfer. Among their functions:

  • To secure legal protection (patents) for ND technologies,
  • To market those technologies to companies that are well positioned to bring them to the marketplace,
  • To negotiate and execute licenses transferring rights in ND technologies to such companies

 

Just a brief look at the current technologies put forth by the university and you can see the win-win opportunity that patent licensing makes possible, for startup companies and universities alike.

Not to mention the opportunity for the facilitator! Consider it: a job in which you are on the forefront of every advancement that comes out of a university, where you’re the bridge between the academy and the business world, making new technologies available for public benefit. Interested? Contact the Masters Program in Patent Law to learn how our degree is your first step forward.