Fort Lauderdale Patent Attorney John Rizvi Selected to Join Florida Bar's Inaugural Class of Board Certified Intellectual Property Lawyers
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Ft. Lauderdale Patent Attorney John Rizvi was selected to join the inaugural class of Florida Board Certified Patent Attorneys approved by the Florida Bar. The Florida Bar is the first state bar in the country to certify attorneys for their expertise in intellectual property law. Board certification evaluates attorneys' special knowledge, skills and proficiency in various areas of law and professionalism and ethics in practice. John Rizvi was approved as a Fort Lauderdale Patent Attorney for his expertise in the area of patent prosecution. John Rizvi co-founded Gold & Rizvi, P.A., The Idea Attorneys®, South Florida patent attorneys with offices in the Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach County, and satellite office locations in Tampa and Orlando.
"Board certification is a valuable credential that is becoming a significant trend in the legal profession," said Florida Bar President Francisco Angones. "Specialization recognizes lawyers' expertise and professionalism, and is a natural progression for lawyers who can demonstrate high skill levels in particular areas of law."
Certified attorneys are the only Florida lawyers allowed to identify or advertise themselves as specialists or experts. Certification is the highest level of evaluation by The Florida Bar of the competency and experience of attorneys in areas of law approved for certification by the Supreme Court of Florida.
Florida currently offers 22 specialty areas of practice for which board certification is available – the greatest number of state-approved certification areas in the nation.
Intellectual property lawyers practice primarily in the areas of patent application prosecution, patent infringement litigation, trademark law and copyright law. Attorney James A. Gale of Feldman Gale P.A. in Miami chairs The Florida Bar's intellectual property certification committee.
"There are a host of new problems out there for companies and individuals trying to protect customer lists, proprietary data, Web site content, trademarks and slogans because of the complexity of this area of law," said Gale. "As the practice area has grown, so has the public's need to identify legal experts in the field."
Background. The Florida Supreme Court in July 2006 amended Florida Bar rules to add intellectual property law to the existing certification program. The opinion states that standards "identify those lawyers who practice intellectual property law and have the special knowledge, skills, and proficiency, as well as the character, ethics, and reputation for professionalism, to be properly identified to the public as certified intellectual property lawyers."
Minimum requirements for intellectual property law board certification include:
- At least five years of law practice immediately preceding application. Practicing patent application prosecution before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office qualifies if the lawyer is a registered patent attorney or registered patent agent.
- At least 30 percent of practice in matters related to intellectual property law during the three years immediately preceding application.
- Experience requirements during the five years immediately preceding application for at least one of the following categories: patent application prosecution, patent infringement litigation, trademark law and copyright law.
- Satisfactory peer review assessment of competence in the intellectual property law field as well as character, ethics and professionalism in the practice of law.
- At least 45 hours of continuing legal education within the three years preceding application; and
- Passage of a written examination demonstrating knowledge, skills and proficiency in the field.
Board certification is valid for five years, during which time the attorney must continue to practice law and attend Florida Bar-approved continuing legal education courses. To be recertified, requirements similar to those for initial certification must be met. Not all qualified lawyers are certified, but those who are board certified have taken the extra step to have their competence and experience recognized.
Intellectual property board certification standards are available on The Florida Bar Web site at www.FloridaBar.org/certification . More information on the 22 legal specialty areas also is available by contacting The Florida Bar's Legal Specialization & Education Department at
A Florida Patent Attorney's Suit of Armor: Integrity
A great majority of the news on patents deals with patent infringement, patent law, and, not coincidentally, it brings to mind the overriding importance of ethics in protecting intellectual property--and profits. As a Florida patent attorney, the long term growth of my business depends on the integrity of the patent applications I file, and recent news underlines its significance.
In a recent online edition of the International Herald-Tribune, Robert Pear wrote an article on just this issue. Currently, patent law dictates that patents held by companies or individuals who have engaged in "inequitable conduct" are subject to having those patents revoked. A pretty severe penalty--maybe, and the subject of hot debate in today's courtrooms.
Patent laws, which affect Florida patent attorneys and patent seekers (and interested parties everywhere), are at the crossroads, with some lobbying for "the biggest changes in U.S. patent law in more than 50 years." Very nearly every industry is represented.
On the one hand, opponents of current patent law wonder if the law is too severe for what senior VP and general counsel for Eli Lilly calls "relatively minor acts of misconduct." According to the article, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has found inequitable conduct in "at least 40 cases, including 14 that involved pharmaceutical or health care products." Types of misconduct have included submitting false statements to the patent office, a lack of accuracy in describing experiments, and concealing information contradicting their claims. Brand name drug companies and the companies who support them report that accusations are frequent and, often simply "honest mistakes."
On the other hand, I wonder: In patenting, particularly medical patenting, is there really any room for mistakes--honest or otherwise? Florida patent attorneys and patent attorneys everywhere who are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office know that protecting their clients requires the utmost in meticulous attention to detail (after detail after detail). The better the application, the more quickly it passes, the more secure the received patent is from attack, and the more the client is free to profit from it. With patent infringement and other litigation costing us into the billions of dollars, can we really afford misinformation and mistakes?
Consumer groups think not, though recent patent legislation threatens to make it a little easier to make "mistakes." The House of Representatives approved a bill making it more difficult to prove inequitable conduct, and the Senate Judiciary Committee are "haggling over a companion bill." That bill may reach the floor this summer.
The need to stop unfounded accusations notwithstanding, this Florida patent attorney is hopeful that the backbone of integrity that supports the patent system will win out and grow in strength in years to come.
Patent Rules Debate and the Worth of an Expert Patent Attorney
Recently, I posted about current changes to patent rules, most notably restrictions on the number of extensions that can be used and limitations on the number of claims that can be made. The debate continues with a preliminary injunction imposed by a U.S. District Court judge in VA, according to an article in today's Crain's Detroit Business. Some lawyers feel the rule changes put unnecessary restrictions on the patenting process, while others believe it streamlines the patenting process by reducing the workload of an overburdened USPTO.More important, perhaps, than the particulars of this scuffle, is the need to choose a patent attorney who works diligently and expertly to craft a patent application that is exceedingly thorough and comprehensive, while still being broad enough to provide the inventor maximum leverage--without undue inefficiency. If you are a Florida inventor, or an inventor anywhere, and you are considering hiring a patent attorney, check their credentials. As I always say, the only stupid question is the question not asked. Feel free to ask me about my track record. I am a Florida patent attorney; however, being registered with the USPTO, I can practice anywhere. Posted By John Rizvi In Choosing a Patent Attorney in Florida 0 Comments Permalink
Florida Patent Attorney Addresses Adding Value to Patent Applications
In his Intellectual Property Counsel Blog post entitled " A Litmus Test to Identify Exceptional Patent Attorneys ", in-house Florida intellectual property attorney Todd Mayover provides a good overview of things that distinguish a " good patent attorney "from an "exceptional patent attorney ".
In particular, he writes:
Adding value to patents requires a complete understanding of an invention, knowledge of the current state of the field of art, the ability to identify how an invention fits in to the industry or market, and the ability to identify and distinguish the closest competitors.
I could not agree more with this statement but feel the need to question sometimes the way that in-house attorneys make their hiring decisions for patent prosecution work. Many times, outside counsel are chosen on the basis of firm and name partner reputations without any inquiry at all on who will actually be doing the work.
There is nothing wrong with this, of course, as long as the attorney and partners that were responsible for building a law firms reputation are the same ones that will work on your matter. If they are not the ones actually doing the work on a company's application, however, in-house intellectual property lawyers should question why they are paying for a senior partner's billing rates when a "wet behind the ears" new associate is actually the one doing the "heavy lifting" on the patent application draft.
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"Invent Something? Plan Marketing Carefully" Offers Good Advice
In a column in the The Herald in Bradenton, Florida, entitled "Invent Something? Plan Marketing Carefully", business columnist Jerry Osteryoung offers good advice to inventors looking to hire a patent attorney to assist them in securing legal rights to their ideas.
Patent Attorney Confidentiality
In my post entitled "Risks of Disclosing Your Invention Prior to a Patent Filing", I discuss a number of risks associated with the pre-filing disclosure of an invention.
I did not address, however, pre-filing discussions with a patent attorney and would like to discuss that now. This is often an area of concern among inventors.
Continue Reading Posted By John Rizvi In Invention & Patent Basics , Patents , Choosing a Patent Attorney in Florida 0 Comments PermalinkTop 10 Reasons to Choose Me as Your Patent Attorney
Reason No. 1: Because I Teach Patent Law to Other Lawyers and Law Students
For the past nine (9) years, I have been an Adjunct Professor at Nova Southeastern University Law School teaching patent, trademark, and copyright law to graduating law students.
In addition to being an Adjunct Professor at Nova Law School, I lecture and teach patent and trademark law to other attorneys and members of the South Florida Inventor's Society and other business groups. Some of my past lecturing experience has been:
“Preservation of Legal Rights in Medical Innovations” before the Florida International Medical Exposition (August 2007).
2000 - Present: Adjunct Professor, Nova University, Shepard Broad Law Center, teaching annual International Practice Clinic on Intellectual Property Law including patent, trademark, and copyright law to third year graduating law students.
"Licensing Your Intellectual Property" before the Inventor's Society of South Florida (June 2002).
“Patent Protection for New Ideas” before the Inventor's Society of South Florida (July 2003)
Florida Bar Approved CLE Seminar for attorneys entitled "Mining Patents for Competitive Intelligence” for the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP), based in Alexandria, Virginia. (February 2003)
Tradewinds 2004 International Business Conference. Taught Seminar entitled "International Trade Secret Protection in Central America & the Caribbean". (October, 2004)
Florida Bar Approved CLE Seminar for attorneys entitled "Patent Essentials for the Nonspecialist" for the Broward County Bar Association Section on Intellectual Property (April 2005).
I believe my teaching patent law to other attorneys, law students, and business people makes me a better patent lawyer myself. You really do not know a subject unless you are able to teach it to someone else.
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