Getting to Know the People Working at a Law Firm

Getting to Know the People Working at a Law Firm

by RAINIER POLICARPIO

Legal aid seekers may find it hard to determine whom to talk to regarding their concerns because of the many people who are employed in a law firm, especially the large ones. These frequently happen particularly if the law office lacks an information desk to assist their clients. Hence, this article will try to help you identify those personnel and their jobs for you to know who to approach for your particular case.
In common legal practices, law firms have a certain hierarchal structure. This is to create a smooth flowing relationship among the employees, particularly concerning their task. Here is a typical list of a law firm staff:

1. Law Firm Owners – They are commonly referred to as partners. Usually, the law firm is named after them since they are the most prestigious lawyers in the company. Because of their vast experience and expertise in their field, their service fees are considered the highest.

2. Legal Associates – These individuals are also lawyers. However, they do not share the ownership of the firm. Associates have much lesser experience as compared to partners, but may also be very good in their own specialization. In due time, they may possibly be partners in the firm. Clients may also expect lower charges from them.

3. Contractual Lawyers – If in case the employed lawyers are not enough to handle the upsurge of cases brought by their clients, the law firm may hire contractual lawyers. They serve as supports to the associates and doing they work on a part-time basis. They are being paid based on an hourly rate and mostly getting higher compensation from their other clients outside a firm.

4. “Of Counsels” – Commonly, these lawyers are formerly connected with a law firm who opted to continue his or her relationship with the company after his or her quasi-retirement. Nevertheless, it is up to the owners of the firm to decide regarding their working arrangement.

5. Legal Clerks – Usually, they are law students who are tasked to work on legal researches or to assist the lawyers in setting up their clients’ cases. They also do other jobs that may be assigned to them by the lawyers. This serves as their training ground for their future profession as lawyers.

6. Paralegals – Legally trained individuals but do not have their professional licenses yet. Ordinarily, they are equipped with practical knowledge of the law that may be very useful for the lawyers to whom they work with.

7. Secretaries – Their role is very vital for every lawyer. They help in organizing the schedules, making client calls, and all other tasks that may be appointed to them by the lawyers.

8. Legal Investigators – They are assigned to work in the field, to make an investigation on a certain case handled by the law firm.

9. Administrations Officers – They are in-charge of the internal dealings of the law firm. Depending on their need, law firms may hire a human resource officer, accountant and any other important positions.

10. Receptionists – They are the front-liners of a law firm, assisting the clients about their legal concerns and ensuring them of having a great visit to the office.

Our California Law Firm has an impressive roster of lawyers specializing in personal injury, employment law, social security disability and business law cases in California.

Medical Negligence and the condition of Life

Medical Negligence and the condition of Life

by MARKUS SKUPEIKA

Even though the road traffic and the car safety are in advance step, the car accidents are still around the corner in the recent times. Being involved in the car accidents or injuries people becomeastonishedby the situation and start to think what to do. Whom to contact? For countering this tongue-tied situation of the life Florida Injury Lawyers are constant and uphold at their service.
Personal injury cases are serious matters. The main reasons that triggers personal injury cases are motorcycle accidents, car accidents, truck accidents, boat accidents and slip and fall accidents. Personal injuries are the combination of leaden injury, permanent disability, and even death. The affected people bank on the financial compensation that they get from the individual being at fault to cover their medical treatments, replace permanently lost income, and compensate for their pain and suffering. Without a qualified, experienced personal injury attorney and trailer accident lawyers Florida, their chances of receiving fair compensation tumble.

Detachment, strict liability, and intentional wrong are some of reasons for which the liability and damages in a personal injury lawsuit can be established and paid for. Even though great numbers of personal injury lawsuits are settled out of court, quite a few go to trial. Juries that review these cases are accountable for awarding the plaintiff with a monetary sum if they deem him or her entitled. Also, they come to a decision on the actual monetary sum that is to be paid out.

If the circumstances surrounding your accident make it clear that one person was clearly at fault, then make your way to the Florida Car Accident Attorneys. If, however, liability is not entirely clear or if there is shared fault, then fault is apportioned between the persons determined by the specifics of the law in the state on comparative or contributory negligence. When liability is shared in an auto accident, it is the insurer's turn to determine the relative percentages of fault of the parties involved.

Different kind of personal injuries like dog bite and the medical negligence and its reimbursement require the substantial and qualified Florida malpractice lawyer. The legitimate professional will sit together with the client or that individual who has been victimized being at fault or not being at fault. Right after that the legal persons will listen to the incident and will collect the related information to make the right and solid legal representation to achieve the right amount of compensation for their respective clients. Through their proceeding phases they will keep you posted about the every aspect of the entire thing.

At which time to hire the service of the Personal injury lawyers certain that they must return the call, respect the privacy, dedicated enough to make the things happen for you. Also make sure that they must get the full settle after the case is won in regard to get the compensation. Find how you can receive No Risk consultation from Fort Lauderdale Accident Lawyers in your local area.
Find Attorneys in Florida that do this for 25 years.

Personal Injury Lawyer LI: get the best help

Personal Injury Lawyer LI: get the best help

by HADIYA ROBINS

There are certain things which can completely unsettle your life and you may end up feeling depressed and traumatized. A personal injury to a loved one is one such thing and that is why you must be prepared to deal with any situation. Accidents happen suddenly and that is why the after effects on the victim and his family members are devastating. Now if the injury has been caused due to the negligence of another individual, an organization or an entity you have the full rights to seek compensation from them. Seeking compensation for an individual or an organization is not an easy task and that is why you need to seek the services of a personal injury lawyer to help you out in this. There are lots of legal nuances connected to seeking the compensation and only a competent legal professional can help you out in this.
Medical treatment is a very expensive affair and if your loved one is injured just because some other person was careless, you have the full legal rights to seek monetary compensation. Depending on the kind of injury and the prevailing law for personal injury in Long Island, a personal injury lawyer LI can help you in filing the legal papers in a court of law. Injuries, whether they are internal or external, take a lot of time to heal and this is the time when the victim needs all the support he can get from his family and friends. Hiring a personal injury lawyer LI helps in this as they will be able to take care of all the legal nuances while you are attending to the victim. Initially you may find it difficult to come across a competent lawyer who will deal with the case with all his devotion.

A little bit of research in this regard will help you in finding out just the right lawyer to deal with your case. Find out his track record and see how efficient he has been in successfully handling personal injury cases in the court. It goes without saying that a legal professional who has an excellent track record for successfully dealing with personal injury cases will handle your case in an efficient manner. If the victim is badly injured, it will be the responsibility of family and friends to find out a personal injury lawyer LI who will deal with the case. A competent lawyer will ensure that the family members do not have to worry about any aspect related to the case and he handles it efficiently.

Severe injuries may be difficult to heal and shortage of money is a big hindrance in getting the injury treated properly. The consolation amount that the personal injury lawyer seeks from the offender depends on the injury as well as the duration for which the person has been bedridden due to the injury. You will find highly rated personal injury lawyers operating in all cities and finding a personal injury lawyer LI who is held in high esteem is not at all difficult, provided you look at the right places. The local yellow pages and the local directory search is a good place for a person to start with this.


Hadiya Robins is a legal expert.She gives advice to clients who are looking for New york lawyer,Highest rated personal injury lawyer,Personal Injury Lawyer LI.For legal advice and to get services of a Lawyer in New York visit www.pulversthompson.com

Keys to Dismantling an Expert Witness

Keys to Dismantling an Expert Witness

Author: Dan Reid

Television and movies have colored the opinions of millions of people regarding the inner workings of a trial and the techniques routinely used by lawyers. In truth, a director of a television show has a limited amount of time to hold an audience captive and keep viewers tuned in. Although many attorneys would do well to abridge their own, often long-winded presentations, it’s just not possible to perform meaningfully in a few short minutes.

Usually, a lawyer in a movie comes out breathing hellfire from the opening salvo of a cross-examination to the moment he sits down four minutes later. This just isn’t practical in the real world.

The most successful cross-examinations begin innocuously enough. Time and pace must be cultivated to permit the damaging information to mount so the effect is far more compelling. Instead of trying to take out the witness immediately, the witness must be carefully set up to take the fall when the time is right.

To accomplish this, the lawyer must first build a formidable foundation, which is created by anticipating what the witness will say and by cutting off the witness’ wiggle room when questions become more probing and precise. After securing agreement with seemingly non-controversial facts, the witness can be locked into a position, which will later be attacked. The cross-examiner can then use the witness’ own words and admissions when he or she moves in for the kill.

Here’s an example, defense experts routinely testify that a plaintiff’s herniated disks were not sustained as a result of the accident but instead by a degenerative pre-existing condition. Assume, when reviewing the expert’s disclosure you learn that the witness failed to review a particular medical record or film. In truth, the record doesn’t even need to be that critical to the case. With a careful foundation in place, where the witness admitted repeatedly that when treating a patient all records and films must be reviewed to allow the practitioner a full understanding of a patient’s medical condition. It can prove particularly deadly; when it is uncovered that such an oversight occurred prior to the expert formulating an opinion on the case on trial. The bigger the buildup, the more dramatic the fall and it is surely something the jury will not forget during deliberations.

Often the point, which may take thirty minutes to create, a suitable foundation for, could have been handled during the opening question of a cross examination. “Isn’t it a fact doctor that you never reviewed the records of Dr. Smith?” However, by the time the cross examiner sits down, the effect of that solitary question will be just another drop of forgotten testimony in a sea of lost inquiry.

My advices to attorneys, take your time, set up your opposing experts and take them down hard. My advice to clients: Be patient with your attorney. Television directors are not lawyers for a reason.

Immigration Law For The Kingdom Of Thailand

Immigration Law For The Kingdom Of Thailand

Author: Wolfgang Jaegel

There are certain laws imposed by governments of various countries to the people who are immigrating. These laws are in common named as the Immigration Laws. The Immigration Law for the Kingdom of Thailand is a set of laws concerning the immigration of people across the globe in to the kingdom. It is to be understood by any person intending to travel to Thailand even if as a tourist. The Immigration Law for the Kingdom of Thailand is to be followed by each and every person and are liable to be legally questioned if found guilty of breaking any of the set of laws. Immigration applications are handled by Immigration Bureau of the Royal Thai Police Department, Ministry of Interior, according to the immigration act of 1979.

Most people who are planning for a vacation need not worry about the problems of having a visa and other such legal licenses. Except a few countries, all people from all over the world are allowed to be guests in the kingdom of Thailand. The Immigration law of Thailand allows a person to stay in Thailand without a visa for a period of about 30 days. This law is very much helpful for tourists as most tours do not exceed a time limit of 30 days. This avoids the strain of running for visas when we are planning for a vacation. An extended period of 15 days may also be approved by the government on applying for it in the immigration office. Thus tourists are saved from these complicated steps to be undergone for getting visas and all, by the government itself.

But if a person wants to stay in Thailand for a long period of time as a settler then he or she will have to clear out all the norms put forth by the government. The Immigration law for the Kingdom of Thailand imposes rigorous punishments upon immigrants leading up to extend of giving death sentences. Immigrants may be of many types such as tourists, visitor transit, non- quota immigrant, non immigrant, and immigrants. People must apply for a visa in order to stay at any country for a longer time. Visas are of many types such as Non immigrant visa, tourist visa, etc. Non immigrant visas are taken by people who have other motives for being in Thailand rather than being a tourist. Other relevant documents may also be needed for non immigrants.

As per the immigration law for the Kingdom of Thailand, any 'application' is considered just as a request for staying in Thailand on a temporary basis. An official staff advised by the Commissioner General of the Thailand police headquarters only has the right to provide permit to people for a temporary stay. As per the immigration law of Thailand, any person having a valid passport may apply for the visa and if the application is rejected, then he or she may ask for the reason and the official concerned will have to give satisfactory explanations. Then he or she can resubmit the application again. The Thai Government can provide extension for staying at Thailand but it must not exceed 30 days and within this period the person concerned must get a license to stay at Thailand.

For people who plan to migrate to Thailand for the purpose of business, jobs, etc, permission may be granted which will not exceed a time period of one year. In most of the cases such as enrollment in a government institution, office, family member of a resident family, etc, the period will never extend one year at a time.

There are many procedures to be followed while submitting the application and it need not be accepted even though almost all details given in the application are most perfect. Sometimes the officials may find out some problem in granting the permission. The rules laid by the immigration law of the Kingdom of Thailand are rather complicated and might seem to be confusing for outsiders. Most Thai officials try not to cause problems and so immigration to the kingdom of Thailand is considered much strain less. The Immigration Law of the Kingdom of Thailand provides one of the vast studies upon the rules imposed on immigration. It is to be studied by all people planning to immigrate to the kingdom.

An Outline of Disability Discrimination Rights of Workers

An Outline of Disability Discrimination Rights of Workers

Author: Eren

DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYEMENT AND DISABLED WORKERS’ RIGHTS IN THE WORKPLACE

(Based on author’s site www.geocities.com/dsblty)

The Disabled Persons (Employment) Act 1944 requires the employers with twenty or more employees to employ a quota, approximately 30%, of disabled persons, and the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 section 4 makes it unlawful for an employer with more fifteen or more employees to discriminate against a disabled person on ground of his disability by treating him less favourably in the arrangements made for determining who to employ or in the terms on which to offer him employment or by refusing to offer him employment or by deliberately not offering him employment -except where justifiable on grounds of health and safety, and the Act requires the employers to make reasonable adjustments to and at the place of work as and when needed by the disabled employees.

Disability is defined as being such physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long term (twelve months or longer) adverse effect on a person's ability to carry out the normal day-to-day activities -such as walking, lifting objects, speaking, hearing, seeing, concentrating, learning, understanding.

The Act does not provide for indirect discrimination, and case-law since have been on the lines that there is no duty on the employer of a disabled person to inquire into details of the disability, nor is he at fault in law for failure to take into account knowledge of the disability or of the details of it which he neither has nor ought reasonably to have, and it is for the disabled applicant or the employee to inform of them the employer at the earliest practicable time; but the employer of a disabled person must neither fail upon such knowledge to make reasonable adjustments needed for the applicant or the employee, nor disregard in relation to the disabled employee any medical advice or suggestion.

In Fozard -v- Greater Manchester Police Authority 1997 the applicant had ticked the relevant box stating that she had a special need of assistance due to disability which was not given her -it was held that the onus was on her to give details of it; the employers, the police authority, had not failed in their obligations to make adjustments under the Act...

In O'Neill -v- Symm & Co. 1998, the disabled employee dismissed for taking time off for treatment which she was entitled to do ought to informed the employer of her condition…

In Tarling -v- Wisdom Toothbrushes 1997 the disabled employee had been unfairly dismissed, for, a needed special chair for back-pain although looked into was not bought…

In Samuels -v- Wesleyan Society 1977 employer's thinking the disabled employee was unlikely to recover was in disregard of medical advice to try him and see if could work.

Adjustments by the Act considered reasonable and expected to be made by the employer include ramps for wheel-chair users, allocating some of the disabled employee's work to another, as needed transferring, assigning to a different place of work, altering working hours, allowing absences for treatment, giving extra training, modifying equipment or instructions or procedures, providing a reader or interpreter, and providing supervision.

The author has a website at: http://www.geocities.com/eoa_uk

Personal Injury Law

Personal Injury Law

Author: John Eastwood

Legal Claim UK is a nationwide network of specialist personal injury law solicitors who are members of the Law Society panel of personal injury experts and will deal with claims using the no win no fee scheme. Compensation is paid in full² and our claims are completely risk free. You will not be asked to pay anything at all as the case proceeds.

Each year in the UK over two million people are hurt in accidents caused by another persons negligence and these include road traffic accidents caused by careless driving and accidents caused by unsafe conditions in a workplace or facility. The civil legal system enables victims of these accidents to seek justice and financial redress for the harm they suffered and provides a way of recovering expenses caused by the accident such as private medical treatment and loss of earnings.

In order to claim compensation for personal injury and loss following an accident it is usually necessary to prove negligence although there are certain circumstances, particularly involving some accidents that occur at work, where it is not necessary to prove negligence because an employer may be absolutely liable for the consequences of certain failures. Negligence exists where there is a duty of care, together with a failure to take reasonable care for the safety of another person. In order to claim damages it is also necessary to show that any losses sustained are reasonably foreseeable and are as a direct result of the accident. Questions of whether or not there has been negligence are best left to personal injury law specialists and our solicitors will give detailed advice at no cost as to your chances of success and the potential value of any claim.

The Limitation Act 1980 sets out the time limits for making a claim and in very general terms a claim must be settled or proceedings must have been issued in a court of law within three years of the accident however there are a number of important exceptions. The three year period does not start running until the age of 18 years and for those with mental incapacity the time may never start to run. Time also does not run until the discovery of the injury or at least until the time that the injury ought to have been discovered with the exercise of reasonable diligence. Limitations matters can be complex and difficult legal issues that require consideration by a specialist lawyer. If you are in any doubt whatsoever you should take urgent professional advice. The golden rule in personal injury claims is to get the action started as soon as possible otherwise the opportunity to claim compensation may be lost forever. Our experienced personal injury law solicitors will give free legal advice on all limitation issues.

Compensation that is awarded is divided into two parts. Special damages represents compensation for those items that can be calculated accurately and includes wages losses and expenses associated with the claim. General damages represents compensation for those items that cannot be calculated with accuracy and must, in the main be assessed. This item includes the pain and suffering for an injury caused as a result of an accident. Pain and suffering is extremely difficult to calculate as money quite simply cannot compensate for physical damage. Judges do however make awards based on previous court cases and for this they refer either to the court records which are often published or to a book called 'Kemp and Kemp' which is a digest of all of important compensation awards made over the years.

Reference is also made to a government guide for judges and practitioners issued by the 'Judicial Studies Board' which sets out to distil all of the previous awards made into a useful guide categorised into different injuries and different degrees of severity.

If you have been injured in an accident within the last three years that wasn't your fault you should contact us. You will receive a complete professional service from solicitors who specialise in claiming compensation for personal injury caused as a result of an accident.

Implementing Intellectual Asset Management Program for the Enterprise

Implementing Intellectual Asset Management Program for the Enterprise

Author: Chris Jones

Intellectual asset management is a structured and disciplined approach for turning ideas and knowledge into intellectual property and revenues.

Implementing an intellectual asset management program requires a process driven approach. A process is "a sequence of activities that take an input and produce an output. In business, a process is supposed to add value to the input before producing the output.” Each step of an intellectual asset management process informs and directs the other, leading to greater efficiency with existing efforts.

Intellectual asset management program provides productive synchronicity between innovation management, patent management, intellectual property licensing and IP enforcement, thereby attaining efficiencies in many inter-connected business processes.

Leading companies in almost every industry have acknowledged the need for an effective intellectual asset management program. Companies such as IBM, Texas Instruments, Du Pont, Dow Chemical, Hewlett-Packard, Xerox, Eastman Chemical, Rockwell, Mark and Cadbury Schwepps, among others, have achieved significant profit increases from their intellectual asset management program. Billions of dollars in revenues have been generated from intellectual assets that are identified, managed and licensed through corporate IAM programs. In this paper, we briefly analyze how your organization can gain the same benefits than several leading companies have achieved.

Implementing successful intellectual asset management (IAM) processes requires five fundamental pieces within an organization: an intellectual asset management strategy, a dedicated team, well defined processes, infrastructure and systems, and metrics for continuous improvement.

Intellectual Asset Management Strategy

Developing an intellectual asset management strategy starts with alignment with corporate strategy. It includes evaluating R&D and engineering practices to accelerate time to market and enhance the effectiveness of intellectual asset investment decisions. You should consider assessing and implementing organization structures and work processes that support intellectual asset management strategy. Successful intellectual asset management strategy is much more than a process for patenting and licensing inventions. It takes into account all types of intellectual assets.

These assets include valuable information and trade secrets as well as patentable inventions. For most companies, patents are just the tip of the iceberg. The bulk of intellectual assets are proprietary information, ideas and trade secrets. Your strategy should also include developing and implementing intellectual asset portfolio monitoring and enforcement programs to better protect current products and future development efforts.

A Dedicated Team

To successfully implement the intellectual asset management strategy, you need the support of a dedicated team. With the role of IP legal changing from support to strategic, the team should be comprised of members with complementary skill sets, including engineering, R&D, IP legal and outside law firms. Acceptance from inventor community is critical for the program to work. Clear communication, simplicity and adaptability to their culture goes a long way into setting the right course for long term success.

Well Defined Processes

Effective intellectual asset management is a process and not an event. Process optimization has the biggest short and long term impact on your business. Both you and your extended team achieve significant efficiency improvements. You should work towards mapping each step in your process and automate each administrative task. This approach will reduce cost and significantly decrease the time dedicated to patent management. You should start with setting structure to the innovation management process. By streamlining invention disclosure submission, review and approval process, you can maximize the use of technology skills available throughout the organization and hence improve the

effectiveness of your team in processing new ideas faster. Next, If patents are significant part of your IP portfolio, you should focus on automating patent management process. Whether you use law firms to do most of your patent prosecution or you use a hybrid model, you should map out each task in the process and analyze how it can be delivered with least resources and maximum impact. Similar to patents, you can structure processes for managing trademarks, assertions and enforcement programs, budget and invoicing management.

Infrastructure and Systems

Historically not the first corporate function to receive limited and expensive IT resources, corporate legal departments have operated with a hodge-podge of limited IT automation, piecemeal point solution applications to address a limited set of legal department functions. Such applications were typically created for external law firms, expert at optimizing for billable hours, rather than enabling the corporate legal, and geographically distributed service providers, employee contributors and stakeholders to operate as one for competitive advantage. More recently, while corporations intranet and document management systems have improved the legal departments’ document access, no where – until

Lecorpio – has there been a completely automated, modern and integrated suite of applications designed to optimize not only each legal function’s processes but also enable an extended enterprise, end-to-end collaboration and visibility of intellectual assets and legal processes.

Unlike all current legal application “point solutions” that limit their clients’ operations to how the vendor defines how to run their business with rigidly defined business application logic programmed directly into the product, Lecorpio uniquely provides both the benefits of standalone, turnkey applications for each corporate legal function, but also empowers corporate legal departments to select and choose how they choose to do business and also easily extend their application logic and workflows and do so without expensive, rare and labor intensive traditional computer programming skills. It is designed to work the way you do, work the way your business does, and work the way technology should.

Metrics for continuous improvement

A picture is worth a thousand words. You should make use of an advanced set of visualization tools that provides an easily understood visual essence of every import metric for your legal department. Spot trends, find anomalies, identify strengths and weaknesses by leveraging your legal assets data. The metrics should be designed to help your team understand what’s happening from both 50,000 feet and 5 feet level. By conducting historical and comparative trend analyses to gain insight into emerging opportunities and critical issues, you gain a competitive advantage over your competition.



Transform Operations and Maximize effectiveness with Lecorpio

Lecorpio, the leading provider of Legal Resource Management (LRM) solutions, empowers the world's leading corporate legal departments, internal corporate constituents and law firms to do more with less with an integrated and collaborative suite of software solutions to automate, manage and optimize all legal functions and processes, individually or "end to end" across the extended enterprise.

Lecorpio Legal Resource Management includes applications for innovation management, patent management, trademark management, IP assertions and enforcement management, licensing compliance management, spend management, contract management, open source management and entity management.

* Lecorpio innovation management provides form, discipline and structure to the invention disclosure process. Innovation Management enables inventors to be actively involved in a dialogue with the legal department and gain insight into how their submissions are moving through the process. This provides organizations gain broader access to ideas and process them for better results. Innovation management provides right information in the right people's hands at the right time. Each participant in the process is notified when they are needed to perform a task, and alarms are triggered if delays occur. The “top-down” view of the entire process improves strategic planning of solicitations and development of new technology and intellectual property.

* Lecorpio patent management provides for the implementation of measures to ensure that a patent department identifies the right law firm/resources, adequately protects, and controls intellectual property portfolio and budgets. Patent case information is organized into electronic tri-folders analogous to the current paper file folders. All participants in the process, including inventors, in-house counsels, law firm attorneys, administrators, docketing clerks, annuity payment service providers and others, are linked to this database and given

selective access to information relevant to their role in the process. Access privileges are controlled so that each participant sees only what is necessary to carry out their responsibilities. Docketing management is fully integrated with case files, docketing is automatically associated with cases, and the user can instantly link from docket to the case file, or from case file to docket.

* Lecorpio trademark management helps your team collaborate with corporate marketing, product development team members and others throughout the company regarding trademark issues and respond promptly to new trademark search requests. You can manage outside counsels more

efficiently and keep track of budgets, estimates and invoices for each search, filing and registration activity performed by outside counsels.

With Lecorpio trademark management, you can create, manage and analyze your portfolios and cluster them by technology areas, product groups and other business factors. Also, using trademark enforcement management, you can track disputes.

* Lecorpio IP assertion and enforcement management is a robust monitoring system for implementing an effective enforcement program. You can track disputes; create third party profiles, manage incoming/outgoing engagements, manage budget, assess risks and keep track of critical tasks and activities.

* Lecorpio licensing management streamlines the process of creating, managing, implementing, and tracking licensing agreements to optimize revenue, mitigate risk, and improve compliance. With Lecorpio licensing management, you can systematically track and manage your licensing and business agreements, diligently fulfill your contractual responsibilities and track the obligations of your business partners. You can manage various types of agreements such as patent, other IP or software license agreements (both inbound and outbound) and graphically analyze on terms, commitments, and obligations articulated in various agreements.

For more information about Lecorpio and the Lecorpio Legal Resource Management suite of applications, please visit http://www.lecorpio.com or call at 1-408-850-7260

A Prologue to Mechanical Patents

A Prologue to Mechanical Patents

Author: Ash Tankha

Mechanical engineering perhaps has the oldest known inventions and patents. In fact, the word ‘engineering’ is derived from a mechanical component. Mechanical engineering is a field that was conceived from natural laws of physics, where one engineers or manipulates these laws to his/her advantage. Mechanical patents non exhaustively and generally encompass utility tools invented constituting force, motion, mass, etc. It specifically encompasses all mechanical devices, contraption and interactions resulting in utilitarian instruments and apparatus, and where such interactions produce a action-reaction component that depends on the mechanism and nature of interaction. Further, all manufacturing processes, for example, metal working and treatment, printing, textile manufacturing, etc, are regarded under mechanical patents. Automobiles fall under mechanical patenting category, although one cannot be sure where a ‘time travel machine’, if invented, will be categorized. Of course, most mechanical engineering fields involve extensive use of computational and mathematical tools, physical laws and equations, but these fall under a different patenting category altogether.

Mechanical inventions have no constraints as they range from a simple yet effective patented invention of a four year old from Texas for “An aid for grasping round knobs” to researched and focused inventions in all areas of mechanical expertise. Few of the well known companies that have a good mechanical patent portfolio include Canon Kabushiki Kaisha with 6798 US patents, General Electric company with 6649 US patents, Xerox Corporation with 2736 US patents and Ford Motor Company, which currently has about 2671 US patents. Some inspiring patented mechanical inventions include legacy devices such as typewriters, Xerox machines to modern inventions such as biomorphic robots, everting heart valves, etc.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office currently specifies 248 major classes for mechanical patents. Each class is given a class definition, and inventions are further categorized into subclasses, where each patent application may be classified under more than one class/subclass. As exemplifications few class definitions are provided here. One class definition encompasses ‘apparatuses that produce compressive force’, another encompasses ‘apparatuses for transferring fluent materials through enclosed structures’, yet another encompasses ‘apparatuses for supplying air to, circulating air in and removing air from enclosed spaces.’

Then there are subclasses defined for each mechanical unit or component of a larger entity. This demonstrates the extent of classification accomplished by the USPTO.

The future of mechanical innovations is considerably bright, not just in the automobile industry but also in sectors like robotics, printing technology, and many more. Mechanics is used to manufacture machines; it is used by the machines, and for enabling the machines. Mechanical innovations gifted us the ease and flexibility of transportation in all forms including inland, air and sea; will aid us in rebuilding the WTC using huge construction equipment and intricate structural frameworks, to relish life with little things like toys, amusement rides, etc.

The New Disincentive in the U.s. to File a U.s. National Application Prior To, and in Addition To, a Pct Application

The New Disincentive in the U.s. to File a U.s. National Application Prior To, and in Addition To, a Pct Application

Author: Richard A. Neifeld

The New Disincentive in the U.S. to File a U.S. National Application Prior to, and in addition to, a PCT Application, and the Increased Incentive to Elect KIPO as the ISA

On February 16, 2007, the USPTO published in the Federal Register a notice of proposed rule making entitled "April 2007 Revision of Patent Cooperation Treaty Procedures", at 7583 FR 72. The proposed rules are in my opinion almost certain to be implemented. They include the following.

1. Elimination of the reduced search fee of only $300, as now specified in 37 CFR 1.445(a)(2), for a PCT application, when there was a prior filed "corresponding" US application.

2. Increased USPTO ISA search fee for PCT applications, of $1800, up from $1000.

The net effect of these changes is an increase of either $800 or $1500 in the cost of requesting the USPTO to be the ISA.

A U.S. applicant may choose the USPTO, the EPO (except for business method patents), or KIPO, as the ISA. After these rules are enacted, the costs for an international search report from these three jurisdictions will be: USPTO $1800; EPO roughly $2100; and KIPO roughly $250. Thus, there is now a very strong financial incentive to elect KIPO as the ISA when filing PCT applications. Moreover, KIPO has been providing search reports much faster than the USPTO.

In addition, there no longer is any financial incentive to prior file a U.S. application, relative to a PCT application.

Ironically, the motivation for this rules package had nothing to do with fees. Instead, as noted in the Notice, the motivation is to make U.S. regulations compliant with changes to the PCT regulations. The changes to the PCT regulations are intended to protect applicants against certain errors in filing PCT applications, specifically: (1) late filings and (2) incomplete filings.

The USPTO is incapable of implementing protection against late filings. Such protection would require extending the Paris Convention right of priority to 14 months from the Paris priority date. This is because the USPTO lacks the authority to do so. The USPTO has no authority to contravene the 12 month limits imposed in U.S. statutory law sections 35 USC 102(d) and the last clause of 35 USC 119(a).

The USPTO can and will implement the safeguarding provision against incomplete PCT filings by allowing an applicant to import disclosure from the priority document into an otherwise incomplete PCT application. The USPTO intends to do so by including in the PCT filing form an incorporation by reference statement.

Since these changes will be effective when the rules are implemented, it is important, when filing PCT applications prior to the effective date, to make an appropriate ISA designation. Moreover, any applicant that can take advantage of the fee reduction specified in 37 CFR 1.445(a)(2), should do so prior to implementation of the new rules.

If you have any other questions or need further information please feel free to contact us via email at http://www.neifeld.com.

Richard Neifeld,

President, Neifeld IP Law, PC

The Changes to the United States Prior Art Law Implemented

The Changes to the United States Prior Art Law Implemented

Author: Richard A. Neifeld

The Changes to the United States Prior Art Law Implemented by PL 108-453 Enacted December 10, 2004
by Richard Neifeld

I. Summary

II. Changes To 35 USC 103

III. Analysis

IV. Impact On "action pending ... on the date of the enactment of this Act"

V. Impact On Right to an Interference Proceeding

VI. Broadening Claims in Pending Applications

VII. Proactive Action and Agreements Relating to Applications Claiming Similar Subject Matter

VIII. Conclusion

I. Summary

On November 20, 2004, the Congress passed S. 1292. President Bush signed S. 1292 into law as Public Law No: 108-453 (PL 108-453). This is a law reducing the scope of prior art in the United States. The goal of the law is to remove certain restrictions on patenting inventions resulting from collaborative work between different people employed by more than one legal entity. Specifically, PL 108-453 amends 35 USC 103(c) as indicated below.

II. Changes To 35 USC 103

The prior version of 35 USC 103(c) read as follows:

(c) Subject matter developed by another person, which qualifies as prior art only under one or more of subsections (e), (f), and (g) of section 102 of this title, shall not preclude patentability under this section where the subject matter and the claimed invention were, at the time the invention was made, owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person. (Amended Nov. 8, 1984, Public Law 98-622, sec. 103, 98 Stat. 3384; Nov. 1, 1995, Public Law 104-41, sec.1, 109 Stat. 3511.)

The new version of 35 USC 103(c) pursuant to PL 108-453 reads as follows:

(c)(1) Subject matter developed by another person, which qualifies as prior art only under one or more of subsections (e), (f), and (g) of section 102 of this title, shall not preclude patentability under this section where the subject matter and the claimed invention were, at the time the claimed invention was made, owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person.

(2) For purposes of this subsection, subject matter developed by another person and a claimed invention shall be deemed to have been owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person if--

(A) the claimed invention was made by or on behalf of parties to a joint research agreement that was in effect on or before the date the claimed invention was made;

(B) the claimed invention was made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of the joint research agreement; and

(C) the application for patent for the claimed invention discloses or is amended to disclose the names of the parties to the joint research agreement.

(3) For purposes of paragraph (2), the term "joint research agreement" means a written contract, grant, or cooperative agreement entered into by two or more persons or entities for the performance of experimental, developmental, or research work in the field of the claimed invention.

The effective date provision for PL 108-453 read as follows:

SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

(a) IN GENERAL- The amendments made by this Act shall apply to any patent granted on or after the date of the enactment of this Act [sic; on or after December 10, 2004].

(b) SPECIAL RULE- The amendments made by this Act shall not affect any final decision of a court or the United States Patent and Trademark Office rendered before the date of the enactment of this Act [sic; December 10, 2004], and shall not affect the right of any party in any action pending before the United States Patent and Trademark Office or a court on the date of the enactment of this Act [sic; December 10, 2004] to have that party's rights determined on the basis of the provisions of title 35, United States Code, in effect on the day before the date of the enactment of this Act [sic; December 10, 2004].

III. Analysis

Secret prior art refers to subject matter that is prior art under U.S. law, but that is not publicly disclosed. It includes subject matter meeting the criteria of subsections (e), (f), and (g) of section 102. Those criteria are the filing of a patent application, for 102(e), deriving the patentable invention from another person, for 102(f), and prior secret invention by a third party, for 102(g).

The version of 35 USC 103 in effect prior to December 10, 2004 excluded from the definition of prior art non-anticipating secret prior art, so long as the non-anticipating secret prior art was based upon activity by people subject by contract to assign their inventions to the same legal entity as the named inventor. The revised statute expands the exclusion of subject matter from secret prior art to include any non-anticipating subject matter meeting the following conditions.

1. A Pre-existing Agreement

The assignee of a claimed invention has in place prior to the date the claimed invention was made an agreement "for the performance of experimental, developmental, or research work in the field of the claimed invention" (that is, a joint research agreement).

Thus, a qualifying agreement that may impart immunity may have existed prior to the implementation of the legislation.

2. A Result of Activities Within the Scope of the Agreement

The "claimed invention was made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of the joint research agreement."

Thus, the agreement should broadly define the activities that are within "the scope of the joint research agreement." There will in certain instances be competitive interests requiring the parties to the agreement to draft the agreements with narrow scope. In those types of situations, we can eventually expect litigation over whether the 103(c)(2) exclusion applies, and the decision in such litigation will construe the meaning of terms in the agreements against various fact patterns. In any case, terms of such agreements should be thought out carefully and fully defined in the agreement to minimize the chance of unexpected adverse consequences.

3. The Application Discloses the Parties to the Agreement

The "application ... discloses or is amended to disclose the names of the parties to the joint research agreement."

Since this passage requires amendment of the application, it is debatable whether it would apply to a certificate of correction to an issued patent. The legislative history suggests that a post issuance certificate of correction might be acceptable. However, that contradicts the actual language of the statute. Thus, a party desiring this exclusion in an issued patent, particularly if litigation is contemplated, might have to resort to filing an application to reissue the patent, and then amend the reissue application, to be certain the exclusion applies.

Moreover, it may be possible to file reissue applications for currently issued patents for purpose of adding a 103(c)(2)(C) amendment and also to satisfy the requirement that the [reissue] patent be issued after the December 10, 2004 effective date of PL 108-453.

Generally, any party having such an agreement should promptly file 103(c)(2)(C) amendments in the affected patent applications. Keep in mind that such an amendment could remove prior art that might otherwise arise in discovery in litigation or due diligence against an issued patent. Accordingly, it pays to file a 103(c)(2)(C) amendment whenever the claimed invention arguably meets the other requirements for the exclusion.

IV. Impact On "action pending ... on the date of the enactment of this Act"

PL 108-453 is effective for patents granted on or after December 10, 2004. However, there is a special provision respecting ongoing proceedings, which states that the change in 35 USC 103 "shall not affect the right of any party in any action pending before the United States Patent and Trademark Office or a court on the date of the enactment of this Act to have that party's rights determined on the basis of the provisions of title 35, United States Code, in effect on the day before the date of the enactment of this Act."

There is a problem with that special provision. The change in 103(c) can only help patentees, so patentees would not want to have the older version of 35 USC 103 apply. Thus, the special effective date provision is not likely to be invoked by patentees. The term "rights" generally refers to property rights, like a patentee's exclusive rights. Accordingly, it is unclear to whom this provision should relate.

Moreover, the statement "any party ... that party's rights" suggests that this special provision can apply to both or all parties in an action. How will that provision be construed for example when a patentee litigant wants the new 103 applied vis-a-vis a defendant's defense of invalidity or defense of lack of infringement under the doctrine of equivalents, and the defendant wants the old 103 applied vis-a-vis its defense of invalidity and its defense of lack of infringement under the doctrine of equivalents? The patentee meets the "any party in any action" criteria, as does the defendant. The patentee meets the "rights" provision based upon its patent rights. Does the defendant's commercial activity infringing the patent amount to a covered "right". In such actions, which version of 103 applies, and which parties "rights" are superior? If Congress wanted to ensure that the new law would be effective against patents in an ongoing patent litigation, it could have clearly so stated. The special provision on the effective date is not such a clear statement.

This law was clearly partially in response to the judicial construction of 35 USC 102(g) expanding the scope of prior art in Oddzon Products, Inc. v. Just Toys, Inc., 122 F.3d 1396 (Fed. Cir. 1997)(Lourie, J.). However, merely because S. 1292, now PL 108-453, was in response to that situation does not mean that existing defendants in litigation should benefit from the prior version of 35 USC 103 and its interpretation in Oddzon Products, Inc.

The special provision generally would only harm patent applicants, so patent applicants should ignore it and promptly file 103(c)(2)(C) amendments. There may however be an exceedingly rare case where a patent applicant would not want to file a 103(c)(2)(C) amendment because doing so would moot an interference issue that the patent applicant wanted to resolve via an interference proceeding, as discussed below.

V. Impact On Right to an Interference Proceeding

Keep in mind that the USPTO's position on interference proceedings is that their primary purpose is "to assist the examiner in the examination of a patent application." JD v. SH, paper No.55, Interference 104,044, (Trial Section of the BPAI, November 11, 1999). Therefore, interference proceedings are only necessary when the existence of a patent precludes the issuance of a pending application. In this regard, note that a party whose application is rejected by a patent which it could remove from prior art by filing a 103(c)(2)(C) amendment, could remove the rejection by filing the103(c)(2)(C) amendment. That action will also likely preclude an interfere proceeding with the patent, at least according to the reasoning in JD v. SH. However, there are situations where the applicant desires to take down the blocking patent instead of removing it from prior art, in which situations the applicant should not file a the103(c)(2)(C) amendment.

With respect for the potential for an interference in situations were both parties to a joint research agreement have filed in their applications and patents 103(c)(2)(C) amendments, an interference is still possible. That is, the interference statutory section, 35 USC 135(a), grants the USPTO discretion when to declare interferences. Moreover, 35 USC 135(a) provides an independent basis for judgement against one party, specifically, lack of priority for a patentable invention, upon which to cancel that party's claims. Cf. "Viability of the Hilmer Doctrine" Neifeld, 81 JPTOS 544, section III.B (July 1999) (posted at http://www.neifeld.com/hilmer.html#N_11_ ); and In re McKellin, 529 F.2d 1324, 1327, 188 USPQ 428, 432 (CCPA 1976)("An applicant who has lost an interference is not entitled to claims which correspond to the subject matter of the counts of the interference. A determination of priority of invention adverse to an applicant constitutes the final refusal by the Patent and Trademark Office of the claims involved. 35 USC 135." Emphasis in the original.) Thus, it is possible that the USPTO would declare an interference in a situation where neither party's inventive activities are prior art against the other party.

Moreover, the 103(c) exclusion from prior art applies only for non-anticipating prior art. That is, the exclusion does not apply to a patent claim of a first party to the joint research agreement if the inventive activity of the second party to the joint research agreement anticipates the subject matter defined by the claim. Thus, it is still possible for a 103(c)(2)(C) amendment to fail to remove the question of blocking prior art based upon inventive activities of parties to a joint research agreement. In such situations, the facts as to who first invented claimed subject matter may need to be determined via an interference, or if the parties agree to cooperate, to a private investigation and submission of relevant prior art admissions to the USPTO.

In fact, how the USPTO will resolve the question of interference between patents and applications subject to 103(c)(2)(C) rights is an open legal question. Since this is an open legal question, and since 103(c) may still block allowance of desirable claims despite a joint research agreement, parties to such agreements might consider addressing both the issue of interference and blocking 103(c) prior art in their joint research agreements. When might this situation arise? Consider for example a University attempting to derive revenue by licensing a valuable technology when the corporate partner to its related joint research agreement also patented that technology only to block its commercial implementation in favor of an alternative technology. Consider for another example a first party to a joint research agreement that so broadly claim the results of the joint research that one claim is anticipated by the inventive work solely of inventors employed by the other party, and the other party has for whatever reason failed to claim that subject matter. It is certainly far easier to address these types of situations in advance when entering into a joint research agreement than after they occur.

VI. Broadening Claims in Pending Applications

Keep in mind that the change in the law covers pending applications if the foregoing conditions of the joint research agreement existed when the inventions disclosed in the application were made. If pending claims have scope limited to avoid subject matter that at the time the application was filed was 103(c) prior art and which can now be removed from 103(c) prior art by the filing of a 103(c)(2)(C) amendment, consider filing a 103(c)(2)(C) amendment and presenting suitably broader claims.

VII. Proactive Action and Agreements Relating to Applications Claiming Similar Subject Matter

Another set of issues are raised by the change in the law's impact on applications claiming similar subject matter filed by different parties to a joint research agreement. The PTO specifies
that the duties of disclosure and candor extend to notifying the examiner when the applicant knows that similar claims are presented in different applications, so that the examiner can decide whether to impose a double patenting rejection. The issues relate to both the duty of disclosure and double patenting.

The duty of disclosure obviously extends to similar claims in applications owned by different parties, to the extent that each party knows about the other parties applications. Accordingly, if there is patent application information shared amongst parties to the agreement, the prosecuting patent attorney must be provided with that information to fulfill the 37 CFR 1.56 duties of disclosure and candor to the USPTO.

Another issue is how entities should act to minimize the potential for double patenting rejection damage to their patent portfolios.

For example, if each one of two entities to a joint research agreement files a patent application, and one or both of the applications are subject to double patenting rejections over one another, how should the two entities handle that situation? Note that there now exists no regulation allowing either entity to remove the rejection by filing a terminal disclaimer because the applications are not co-owned! 37 CFR 1.321(c)(3) requires common ownership of both patents or applications for a terminal disclaimer to be effective to remove a double patenting rejection. Accordingly, the parties should contemplate now, actions to take, to avoid this problem.

Such actions might include an agreement to assign all patents rights to one of the two entities, or to assign only those patents in which proper double patenting rejections exist, to one entity, at a suitable time, with a suitable license back to the assigning party. A more sensible action would be to determine ahead of time whom to assign patent applications (with suitable license back) and what each party will claim in the applications to avoid or minimize the possibility of a double patenting rejection. Keep in mind that, even if the patent applicant can defeat a double patenting rejection by filing a suitable terminal disclaimer, the disclaimer may eliminate all potential patent term adjustment. That patent term truncation effect will, generally speaking, be more detrimental the more basic the underlying research, since the more basic the underlying research, the further out in time commercialization occurs.

VIII. Conclusion

PL 108-453 reduces the scope of prior art against qualifying claimed inventions. Legal entities can take advantage of the benefits of PL 108-453 with appropriate actions, and such entities may want to promptly review the research related agreements and take suitable action now.

If you have any other questions or need further information please feel free to contact us via email at www.neifeld.com.

Richard Neifeld,
President, Neifeld IP Law, PC

Can you Use a Patent Application Filing in Order to Obtain a Foreign Filing License for "technical Data" ?

Can you Use a Patent Application Filing in Order to Obtain a Foreign Filing License for "technical Data" ?

Author: Richard A. Neifeld

Can You Use a Patent Application Filing in Order to Obtain a Foreign Filing License for "technical data" ? - YES! - By Richard Neifeld, Ph.D., Patent Attorney, Neifeld IP Law, PC www.Neifeld.com
United States laws provide restrictions on exporting "technical data" outside the U.S. Obtaining a license to export that data through conventional channels may be time consuming and relatively expensive. A patent application can rapidly and inexpensively effect a license to export certain "technical data". U.S. patent laws and regulations provide for such a procedure, as follows. Unites States patent code section 35 USC 184 states as follows:
35 USC 184 - Filing of application in foreign country
Except when authorized by a license obtained from the Commissioner of Patents a person shall not file or cause or authorize to be filed in any foreign country prior to six months after filing in the United States an application for patent or for the registration of a utility model, industrial design, or model in respect of an invention made in this country. A license shall not be granted with respect to an invention subject to an order issued by the Commissioner of Patents pursuant to section 181 of this title without the concurrence of the head of the departments and the chief officers of the agencies who caused the order to be issued. The license may be granted retroactively where an application has been filed abroad through error and without deceptive intent and the application does not disclose an invention within the scope of section 181 of this title. The term "application" when used in this chapter includes applications and any modifications, amendments, or supplements thereto, or divisions thereof. The scope of a license shall permit subsequent modifications, amendments, and supplements containing additional subject matter if the application upon which the request for the license is based is not, or was not, required to be made available for inspection under section 181 of this title and if such modifications, amendments, and supplements do not change the general nature of the invention in a manner which would require such application to be made available for inspection under such section 181. In any case in which a license is not, or was not, required in order to file an application in any foreign country, such subsequent modifications, amendments, and supplements may be made, without a license, to the application filed in the foreign country if the United States application was not required to be made available for inspection under section 181 and if such modifications, amendments, and supplements do not, or did not, change the general nature of the invention in a manner which would require the United States application to have been made available for inspection under such section 181.
United States patent regulation 37 CFR 5.11 states as follows:
37 CFR 5.11 - License for filing in a foreign country an application on an invention made in the United States or for transmitting international application
(a) A license from the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks under 35 U.S.C. 184 is required before filing any application for patent including any modifications, amendments, or supplements thereto or divisions thereof or for the registration of a utility model, industrial design, or model, in a foreign patent office or any foreign patent agency or any international agency other than the United States Receiving Office, if the invention was made in the United States and:

1) An application on the invention has been filed in the United States less than six months prior to the date on which the application is to be filed, or
2) No application on the invention has been filed in the United States.
(b) The license from the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks referred to in paragraph (a) would also authorize the export of technical data abroad for purposes relating to the preparation, filing or possible filing and prosecution of a foreign patent application without separately complying with the regulations contained in 22 CFR parts 121 through 130 (International Traffic in Arms Regulations of the Department of State), 15 CFR part 779 (Regulations of the Office of Export Administration, International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce) and 10 CFR part 810 (Foreign Atomic Energy Programs of the Department of Energy). [49 FR 13461, Apr. 4, 1984; paras. (a) and (e), 56 FR 1924, Jan. 18, 1991, effective Feb. 19, 1991; paras. (b), (c), and (e)(3) revised, 62 FR 53131, Oct. 10, 1997, effective Dec. 1, 1997]
Thus, you can rapidly obtain a license for "technical data" by filing a U.S. patent application. That can be far more cost effective than by the alternative of complying with 22 CFR and 15 CFR. Moreover, it can be a lot faster.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will in most applications provide a foreign filing license, and will do so within a few weeks of the filing of the patent application. However, the USPTO also makes even more expedited service is available. While getting patent applications issued into patents may take years, getting a foreign filing license does not!

A Supplemental Note on the Medical Practitioner's Act

A Supplemental Note on the Medical Practitioner's Act

Author: Richard A. Neifeld

A Supplemental Note on the Medical Practitioner's Act

Bijel Dholakia sent in these questions via the PIUG Web Site Comments and Questions form:

1. What are some good patent search tips / techniques when searching for surgical processes or methods?

2. Are there any good training seminars / courses on how to search medical patents that you recommend? Who runs them?

Edward T. Mickelson, Ph.D., Patent Agent, replied stating in part "bearing in mind that such processes and methods are not patentable in Europe and are essentially meaningless in the US, as physicians are immune from infringement suits regarding surgical/medical processes and methods."

Ed was referring to the Medical Practitioner's Act codified at 35 USC 287(c)(4) (See the AIPA enacted in 1999). However, there are a LOT of twists to that statute. Medical practitioners licensed by a State or Territory of the U.S. are immune from liability of a patented method, as is their "related health care entity" such as the hospital in which they practice the patented method if they have a professional affiliation with the hospital.

However, amongst other things, that immunity from liability from patent infringement DOES NOT apply (1) to PATENTS issued from an application having an "effective filing date" prior to September 30, 1996 and (2) to ENTITIES engaged in "commercial development, manufacture, sale, importation,..." etc. where such ACTIVITIES are "directly related to commercial development, manufacture, sale, importation..." etc that are "regulated [by a variety of U.S. government agencies like the FDA].

What does this mean? Generally speaking, it means that old U.S. medical method patents are enforceable against physicians, and that all U.S. medical method patents are enforceable against manufacturers or regulated products. Generally, because there may be exceptions to the exceptions. Read 35 USC 287 in detail, and perhaps Gerry Mossinghoff's article in the JPTOS on the subject. My understanding is that Gerry was central to the drafting of this provision.

For those interested, I discussed the AIPA, and the meaning of "effective filing date" prior to September 30, 1996 in my article on the AIPA, now posted at http://www.neifeld.com/advart4.html

Electronic Notebooks and the Requirements to Prove Date of Invention in Patent Interferences

Electronic Notebooks and the Requirements to Prove Date of Invention in Patent Interferences

Author: Richard A. Neifeld

Electronic Notebooks and the Requirements to Prove Date of Invention in Patent Interferences

This paper contains an excerpt of an email I sent to the PIUG (Patent Information User's Group) email distribution list on November 30, 2003.

1. It would be useful to all of you to have a better understanding of the requirements relating to proof of date of invention in patent interferences in order to understand the issues relating to electronic notebooks. First, keep in mind that a date of actual invention is now only relevant in the United States and the Philippines. In all other major jurisdictions, it is the date of filing of a patent application that is the earliest date allowed to as a date of invention, except where there are issues of theft of invention.

2. There are some substantive legal issues that you should all be aware of relating to evidence of inventions for the purposes of proving priority of invention (first to invent) for U.S. patents. The law respecting how to prove priority of invention is in fact a well defined body of law. Its application to electronic record keeping merely requires an application of that law to e-records. No more, no less. Thus, it is the legal principles that are paramount, not the technology, per se, of record keeping.

3. The rule requiring corroboration: Evidence of what was invented and when that invention came into existence is generally NOT admissible in the United States Patent and Trademark Office and U.S. courts for the purpose of invalidating claims to the same invention made by another UNLESS it is corroborated by someone other than the inventor. Here, "inventor" means the person or persons who are named on the patent. (I use the word "patent" here to mean either patent or patent application, for simplicity.) Corroboration therefore requires a non-inventor to have reviewed and understood the inventors' work. It is the date of that corroborator's review that defines provable evidence a date of invention. Thus, a co-worker, technician, manager, or even a secretary can corroborate. Of course, it is less likely that a non-technically trained person will understand what they were asked to corroborate, and therefore, it would be harder to prove a right to a date of invention based upon a non technical person's knowledge.

4. Chain of Custody: Evidence in legal proceedings in the U.S. is only admissible if it meets the admissibility requirements of the Federal Rules of Evidence (FREs). The FREs require that documents and things relied upon as evidence may be challenged for lack of a "chain of custody", i.e., proof that they were in the possession and control of a person or entity that would not tamper with them.

5. In all evidentiary proceedings, most documents and things held out as evidence do not "speak for themselves"; they must be brought into evidence by testimony of a person explaining what they are and where they came from. Exceptions to this rule are self authenticating records, such as patents, publications, certain notarized documents, and the like.

6. Generally speaking, a document management system should incorporate technology and security that facilitates meeting the evidentiary requirements noted above.

International Coordination of Food Safety Regulations

International Coordination of Food Safety Regulations

Author: Russell K. Statman

As food distribution chains are increasingly stretched around the world, urgency has arisen for the creation of new food safety standards and stricter enforcement of existing food safety laws to ensure that food industry quality control and food processing standards provide for a safe global food supply.

The global food and beverage industry is the world’s largest industry. In fact, it is larger than all of the world’s other industries combined. In the quest for market share and increased profits, quality and food safety may sometimes be sacrificed. Consumers depend upon the interaction and the cooperation between government agencies to set and enforce standardized safety guidelines and food safety laws that ensure that there are no compromises in terms of quality and safety. Consumers need to know that produce from agriculture is safe from farm through processing to grocery shelves, that fish is safely wild harvested or raised by aquaculture, that poultry and livestock are free from pathogens and that food and food supplements contain ingredients generally recognized as safe. Processed foods must be pasteurized or sterilized, and canned or otherwise packaged aseptically sealed containers. Fresh food must be inspected by government agencies.

Coordinating those International Governmental efforts is no easy task however. In the United States alone, Food Safety Regulations are divided among multiple government Agencies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). These U.S. agencies must then communicate with the equivalent Government Agencies of other countries.

Food Safety Regulations and Compliance Information at www.fdaregistrar.com

In this complex maze of food safety regulations, it is beneficial for food and beverage companies throughout the world to have one central organization to assist them with FDA food safety guidelines. FDA Registrar Corp helps companies comply with the U. S. food and beverage safety laws that are required of companies doing business in the USA. These services are particularly helpful to non-U.S. companies that may need to overcome language barriers, time barriers and cultural barriers with regard to U.S. FDA requirements.

FDA Registrar Corp assists U.S. and non-U.S. companies with the completion of FDA regulations in the Food and Beverage, Medical Device and Cosmetics Industries. At www.fdaregistrar.com registration and compliance is quick and easy. FDA Registrar Corp’s food safety consultants, medical device experts and cosmetic specialists all make compliance procedures simple and affordable.

FDA Registrar Corp quickly helps companies with all of the following regulatory requirements based on FDA food safety guidelines thus improving relations with global trading partners:



Compliance with U.S. FDA Food Facility Registration

*U.S. Prior Notice (Forms to ship food and beverages to the USA)

*U.S. Food Labeling Regulations

*U.S. Food Canning Establishment Registration (FCE) and Process Filings (SID)

*U.S. FDA Medical Device Establishment Registration

*U.S. FDA Medical Device Listings

*U.S. FDA Cosmetic Registration

*U.S. FDA Cosmetic Formulation Filings

FDA Registrar Corp was organized in response to the U.S. FDA Bioterrorism Act of 2002 that required all companies involved with the manufacturing, processing, packaging and storing of food and beverages to be consumed in the United States, to register with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and to adhere to FDA food safety guidelines. FDA Registrar Corp is the world’s largest FDA Agent assisting some of the Industry’s best-known companies with food safety regulations. With a systematic and conscientious approach, FDA Registrar Corp has helped all parties work towards providing food industry quality control standards to provide safe handling, storage and preparation of food and beverage products.

Connecticut Auto Bill of Sale Laws

Connecticut Auto Bill of Sale Laws

Author: David Fagan

An auto bill of sale is made for the purpose of privately selling your vehicle. An auto bill of sale is your legal receipt to prove you paid for the vehicle.

A bill of sale should include the vehicle information such as the make, model, year, VIN (vehicle identification number), and the odometer reading at the time of the sale. You also will need to include the buyer and seller information on your auto bill of sale form; this will include info such as the name and address, and the signature's of both buyer and seller. The last thing Connecticut requires to be on your auto bill of sale form is the selling price and the date the vehicle was sold.

You can obtain a bill of sale (H-31 form) from your local DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) for a "print fee", my DMV in Florida has charged me over ten dollars for one of these "print fees". When the bill of sale is completed, the purchaser must present the completed form to the Motor Vehicle Department with other forms required for proper registration. The best thing to do is go online and download an auto bill of sale kit that includes instructions and all the forms you need for the same price.

At any time you can obtain a copy of the original Bill of Sale once it’s filed by filing a Copy Records Request (Form J-23), which you can request to be mailed to you. Connecticut courts charge a twenty-dollar fee for a Copy Records Request, and usually takes about four to six weeks to receive a copy of the Bill of Sale that you specifically requested.

A Bill of Sale is not simply limited to an automobile; you can use a Bill of Sale to sell a boat, vessel, motorcycle, a motor vehicle, or other motorized vehicle.

Police Have a New Tool for Terrorists

Police Have a New Tool for Terrorists

Author: Bill Jeitner

Software to catch terrorists and criminals
July 12, 2007; Warrington, PA 18976
BKForensics has announced they are offering their software, “Cell Phone Analyzer™”, and user support, at no charge to all qualified Federal Agency’s worldwide that are actively investigating terrorist threats and incidents where cell phone analysis is required. The next generation in digital forensics is the analysis of cell phones; the data contained in these devices often prove to be invaluable to investigators. Cell Phone Analyzer™ is currently the only automated software capable of interpreting the binary data contained within the cell phone memory.

Unlike logical data, which is information a user can read, binary data is inaccessible to the user and contains active and deleted images and data. Cell Phone Analyzer™ is currently in use by local, state and federal agencies worldwide as a proven solution for mobile phone examinations. BKForensics is a leader in cell phone forensic solutions and is a firm comprised of active and retired law enforcement, so the decision to offer the software and support at no cost to qualifying agencies was obvious said company spokesperson Bill Jeitner. “It is essential to keep investigators armed with cutting edge equipment; therefore we will provide a copy of our software and support to any agency that needs to conduct cell phone examinations. “We believe in safety before profit”.

Qualified agency’s should contact BKForensics for additional information. BKForensics offers training and solutions for cell phone forensics. Complete company information may be obtained by visiting www.BKForensics.com.

Driving Under the Influence in Alabama

Driving Under the Influence in Alabama

Author: james dalton

Every year millions of people in the United States get convicted of Driving under the Influence (DUI). This a crime and often times these drunk drivers maim or kill people due to them not being in the right capacity to operate their motor vehicle. This article will examine what exactly is a DUI and the different sentences associated with it under the state of Alabama. It will also look at the issue of obtaining car insurance once you have been convicted of a DUI in Alabama.

It is a crime to drive drunk and this is often times called driving under the influence (DUI) or driving while intoxicated (DWI), this all depends on the state and how they define it. In the state of Alabama it is known as a DUI. To be considered a drunk driver in Alabama, the driver must have a high blood alcohol concentration of .15 or higher. Drunk driving kills many people a year and puts countless others at risk. This means if convicted of a DUI it carries far reaching consequences. These will be discussed below.

DUI is a crime and if you are arrested there are different sentences that can be handed down by a court in Alabama. These vary and this article will examine what they are. In the State of Alabama if you have a first offense of DUI then you may get some of the following penalties. For a first offense you may either receive one year in jail, a 90 day license suspension up to a $2,100 fine and mandatory DUI school. For a second offense you may receive one year in jail, mandatory 5 days in jail, a 1 year license suspension, a fine up to $5,100 and mandatory DUI. For your third DUI you may receive one year in jail, mandatory 60 days in jail, a 3 year license suspension, a fine up to $10,100 and mandatory DUI. Your fourth and higher DUI offense is considered a C class felony and you may receive punishment of one year and a day to 10 years in jail, a 5 year license suspension and a fine up to $10,100.

Aside from court costs, possible jail time and heavy fines people convicted of a DUI in Alabama also have to worry about their car insurance premiums increasing. Most people depend on their car and an added cost to operating one affects people tremendously. Most insurance companies check your DMV records to see if you have any accidents or been convicted of a DUI. Insurance companies in Alabama especially the city of Birmingham if they find out you have a DUI conviction will often times raise your premiums because they feel as if you are a high risk driver. This could send your Birmingham Auto Insurance through the roof.

Do it yourself Last Will and Testament Tips

Do it yourself Last Will and Testament Tips

Author: David Fagan

Contemplation about your death is never pleasant, but doing the wise thing by foreseeing the possible circumstances of your demise and impact on your family is an honorable act. A last will is a document/form that will ensure your wishes are upheld upon your death.

The most important reason why you probably want to make a perfect last will and testament is because you want your loved ones to inherit your precious wealth. You can also use a last will to determine whom the legal guardian(s) for your children will be. A tax efficient last will can help ensure your wealth is mainly transferred to your loved ones by allowing you to name an executor of your will. The executor will ensure the application of the will.

There are a few basic things you should consider while making your will. Make your will at a young age before your so old or become so senile that it could be argued you were too mentally incompetent to execute your last will and testament. Also, remember to always date your last will since a newer last will always cancels out the older last will and testament. Finally, its best to keep your last will as simple, precise, and as easy to read/understand as possible.

Whomever the will is for (the "testator") must sign their last will and testament in the company of at least two witnesses who are not beneficiaries of the will and can attest to it. Each page of the last will and testament must be signed by the testator, numbered, and dated accordingly (any corrections must be countersigned).

It is best to keep the will in a safe place you and the beneficiaries know about; typically this is a bank vault. Any signed copies can be held by an advocate. Codicils can be attached to it and read out to make changes in the will. Although, if there are too many changes it's best just to write a new will.

The main contents of the will are:
1) Name and home address
2) Short descriptions of your assets
3) An alternative beneficiary in case the first one becomes deceased before you.
4) Gifts to people
5) If desired, the cancellation of debts
6) Name of the executor to manage your estate
7) Name of the guardian to look after your minor child(ren).
8) Your signature
9) And, the two witnesses signature's

Appointing a guardian is important if you have minor children. If you do not appoint a guardian the state will appoint one for you and this can mean CPS (Child Protective Services) in some cases. The guardian for the minor must be over 18 years of age. The guardian must also be previously consulted about your decision to appoint him/her as the guardian.

An executor's job is to pay off taxmen, creditors, cancel credit cards, subscriptions and distributes the testator's assets according to his/her will. The executor can be a spouse, a friend of yours, a family member, a trust company, or a lawyer.

You could start getting ready to write your will today by taking an inventory of your assets, and who receives them. Consider your family's future liabilities in the case of death, and decide for yourself if you want to do the honorable act.

Washington State Living Will Laws

Washington State Living Will Laws

Author: David Fagan

It is your right to make your own healthcare decisions in Washington State. The decisions you make can be as simple as the type of meals you’d like, or as difficult as choosing whether or not to receive life-sustaining treatments.

If you become incapacitated how can you be sure that your healthcare decisions will be honored? If you plan now, with the help of a living will (advance directive) you can make your healthcare decisions known in advance incase you become incapacitated.

Washington State law enables the following people to make healthcare decisions for you should you lose the ability to communicate and make decisions. A guardian with healthcare decision-making authority, if appointed; The person appointed in your durable power of attorney with healthcare decision-making authority; Your spouse; Your adult children; Your parents; and your adult brothers and sisters.

In Washington State once your living will (advance directive) is registered, you are registered for life. After you register, annually you'll receive an update form so that your information will always be current. This service is provided free of charge.

After your living will form is registered, you will receive a letter by mail from the U.S. Living Will Registry that contains labels to attach to your driver's license and insurance card. These labels state that you are registered with the U.S. Living Will Registry. As soon as you’re registered your documents and emergency contact information is available to healthcare providers all over the country. This is to ensure your wishes are available wherever and whenever they are needed.

Once your done registering the living will you'll want to keep the documents in an accessible place for safekeeping. You may also want to consider planning your estate by filing a last will form. A last will gives you the ability to make advanced arrangements for the distribution of your estate in the event of your death.

Auto Accident Lawyers Can Benefit by Evidence Other Driver Was on a Cell Phone

Auto Accident Lawyers Can Benefit by Evidence Other Driver Was on a Cell Phone

Author: Raymond L

Auto accident lawyers can use the evidence that the other driver was on
his cell phone in the moments preceding the accident in at least two
ways: (1) to establish that the other auto driver was DUI level driving
impaired, to aid in establishing liability, particularly in contested
liability cases; and (2) in some cases to gain access to additional
insurance coverage, e.g., where the auto accident attorney
can establish that the driver was engaged in a business call, "in the
course and scope of his employment.

Accident Claim Experts

Accident Claim Experts

Author: Lindsay Nolan

Contrary to popular belief, making an accident claim is not too hard a task. Obviously, in order to be eligible to claim compensation, the accident must not be your own fault. If it was you the one who provoked the accident, not only you can not request compensation, but you can expect the other people involved to sue.

That's why you have to be innocent if you want to make an accident claim. The most important aspect of such a claim is eligibility. No lawyer will take your case if it is not a probable winner, and I'll tell you why: nowadays the most competent solicitor firms go by the "no win no fee" policy. This is a legal agreement between the client and his lawyer which stipulates that if the case is not a winner, the attorney does not get paid, in other words the client doesn't lose anything. So you can understand why lawyers will tell you from the start: "I'll take your case and we will win!" or, in other unfortunate circumstances "I'm sorry but there is just not enough evidence to make your claim successful".

Lawyers will not waste time with impossible cases - nobody likes to work for free. And this saves a lot of hassle and confusion for the accident victim too. Why should you start a relatively long legal procedure if the chances of getting compensated are slim to none? That's why this conditional fee agreement is used often these days - it saves time and money for everybody.

And making an accident claim is only normal. If you claim, you ask to be compensated for the personal injuries you ended up with after the accident, and the damage your property has suffered. It's not ok to leave things as they are and to decide not to claim, just think about it: somebody was negligent enough to make the accident happen, and because of this you got physically hurt. So go for it: make a compensation claim!

But you should know this: the claim procedure starts right after the accident! There are some things that you should do right there at the scene, in order to assure that your claim would be successful. Gather evidence!

Yes, that's right. You have to think in perspective. If you act smart and make some pictures at the scene, and you write down personal details of the people involved for future reference, your injury claim will have 99.9% winning chances.

Who knows what personal injury you end up with? Anything can happen during an accident. How about if you get a whiplash type injury? That can have serious consequences on your body for years and years, and it is difficult to spot. Thus, you will want to go to a doctor to get a thorough medical assessment.

Concluding, there are 3 steps to follow if you want to claim accident compensation:
· Get evidence form the scene
· Get medical assessment
· Contact a good no win no fee lawyer

After you hire a lawyer, the procedure almost goes on auto-pilot. You will not need to do anything more than stay in touch with him and give him the necessary information when required. He will do everything on your behalf, and after a while you will receive a nice check at your doorstep, the result of a well made accident claim.

Personal Injury Lawyer Li: Get the Best Help

Personal Injury Lawyer Li: Get the Best Help

Author: Hadiya Robins

There are certain things which can completely unsettle your life and you may end up feeling depressed and traumatized. A personal injury to a loved one is one such thing and that is why you must be prepared to deal with any situation. Accidents happen suddenly and that is why the after effects on the victim and his family members are devastating. Now if the injury has been caused due to the negligence of another individual, an organization or an entity you have the full rights to seek compensation from them. Seeking compensation for an individual or an organization is not an easy task and that is why you need to seek the services of a personal injury lawyer to help you out in this. There are lots of legal nuances connected to seeking the compensation and only a competent legal professional can help you out in this.

Medical treatment is a very expensive affair and if your loved one is injured just because some other person was careless, you have the full legal rights to seek monetary compensation. Depending on the kind of injury and the prevailing law for personal injury in Long Island, a personal injury lawyer LI can help you in filing the legal papers in a court of law. Injuries, whether they are internal or external, take a lot of time to heal and this is the time when the victim needs all the support he can get from his family and friends. Hiring a personal injury lawyer LI helps in this as they will be able to take care of all the legal nuances while you are attending to the victim. Initially you may find it difficult to come across a competent lawyer who will deal with the case with all his devotion.

A little bit of research in this regard will help you in finding out just the right lawyer to deal with your case. Find out his track record and see how efficient he has been in successfully handling personal injury cases in the court. It goes without saying that a legal professional who has an excellent track record for successfully dealing with personal injury cases will handle your case in an efficient manner. If the victim is badly injured, it will be the responsibility of family and friends to find out a personal injury lawyer LI who will deal with the case. A competent lawyer will ensure that the family members do not have to worry about any aspect related to the case and he handles it efficiently.

Severe injuries may be difficult to heal and shortage of money is a big hindrance in getting the injury treated properly. The consolation amount that the personal injury lawyer seeks from the offender depends on the injury as well as the duration for which the person has been bedridden due to the injury. You will find highly rated personal injury lawyers operating in all cities and finding a personal injury lawyer LI who is held in high esteem is not at all difficult, provided you look at the right places. The local yellow pages and the local directory search is a good place for a person to start with this.

Consumer Protection Laws on Distance Trading Rights

Consumer Protection Laws on Distance Trading Rights

Author: Eren

RIGHTS OF CONSUMERS IN CONSUMER PROTECTION LAWS ON DISTANCE TRADING PRACTICES
(Based on author’s site www.geocities.com/mlordc)

Many consumers in distance trading suffer financial loss or delays in mail order or online shopping -the consumer protection legislation and Distance Trading Regulations, in basic lay terms, are as follows...

In distant trading mail order companies (including in internet shopping or online shopping) in law do not have to tell you your rights -the entitlement to details exists only if you know your rights and ask ~but it is unlawful also in distance trading for mail order traders expressly or by implication (including orally) to mislead you or to seek to restrict the exercise of your rights in consumer laws.

Whether you have ordered goods from a catalogue, newspaper or magazine, television or internet advertisement, be they on approval or not, goods such as a jackets or dress or shoes, music CDs, video cassettes, DVDs or books, whether a one off purchase or periodically by club membership, paid for by cash or on credit, by debit or credit card, in full or in part, there are some consumer rights not commonly known under various consumer laws and mail order schemes which sometimes can save you time, effort, money.

For example, mail order companies must service serviceable goods they sell, and your credit card company also may be liable.

Catalogues usually subscribe to a mail order traders' association whose logo they display, and there are expectations from them…

1. They must provide accurate information about such details as material used, colour, and size, of the goods they advertise, as well as regarding installation and anything that may restrict their use ~they must state any restriction on availability or delivery -as well as all charges involved, including any extra delivery charges.

2. You must be able within a stated period of time, usually two weeks, to return unwanted goods -if faulty or substitute goods (which must be on approval) post paid by them ~and if goods may require servicing you must be given fullest details if you ask.

3. You must be told how to complain should the occasion arise and speedily must be dealt with complaints and sympathetically.

Book or Music Clubs mostly subscribe to a mail order publishers association whose symbol they display and who must investigate complaints in case of failure in the following respects.

1. The main terms of any offer advertised must be stated clearly -must be accurate the details of quality, quantity, price, postage ~they must not be sent you unsolicited without an order (they must be returnable at seller’s expense if on approval); if you sent money it must be acknowledged with despatch date and any delay explained.

2. If you buy regularly you need not give a reason if you wish to cancel after a year, or if price increases exceed the expectation ~if debt collecting they must ensure not to unreasonably bother you.

Mail Order items advertised in a medium with a 'protection scheme' unless 'classified' are protected by advertising practice codes too ~the law requires advertisement to be 'legal, decent, honest, truthful' -'washes whiter than white' is an obvious slogan and fine.

Internet or online shopping is equally covered in the Distance Trading Regulations –whether deliver is by mail or courier.

1. You have the right without giving a reason to inform the seller within seven working days (the day of receipt not counting) that you wish to return the goods. You do not have to actually return them within the cooling off period, e.g., if the seller takes his time to issue a return number. Such a cancellation, in law, is for the whole of the package, unless the seller agrees or can be shown by custom and practice to accept return of individual items -e.g., if its RMA request form asks without more for items wanted to be returned to be marked. If you choose to do so, you must return the goods undamaged. If you have paid money, you are entitled to a full refund within thirty days which must be in 'cash' -not as credit-note, nor voucher (this is an implied statutory term -a term or condition that makes this the seller’s option is void).

In consumer protection laws and Distance Trading Regulations this is so also if goods are faulty or misleadingly described or not fit for the purpose that the seller was told of or enquired from (including orally –e.g., by telephone) or knew or could reasonably be expected to know –in this case you are entitled also to any return costs (e.g., postage). You are entitled to a refund also if the sale was not fair in the circumstances.

The seller's discretion to replace or repair is normally exercisable if, e.g., the defect has been discovered after a long time of use, e.g., six months. Reference in law is to 'goods' as distinct from their wrapping or packaging -not that they must not have been opened or used; but they must be returned in good condition in reason in the applicable circumstance.

(Any seals that the seller may lawfully ask to be agreed not be broken are only such as may be on the goods themselves and of a kind that would not restrict your legal right to try the goods, e.g., to decide whether you like and wish to keep them -except if the item sealed is “computer software or driver disk” [although it is difficult to see how, e.g., a printer or scanner can be tried without the use of its driver disk to see if one likes and wants to be keep or not within the cooling-off period]).

These legal obligations are of the sellers, directly to the customers, and are not affected by any liability on the part of the manufacturer, and any terms or conditions that exclude or restrict consumer rights given by law, e.g., that the customer must contact the manufacturer instead, even if agreed to, are void in law.

Sometimes are involved return or authorisation number request procedures for administrative purposes of the seller -sellers may not, e.g., by refusing to issue an RMA, lawfully refuse receipt of returned goods.

If in relation to returning goods within the seven-day cooling off period the customer mentions a reason [whether asked or not], e.g. that they are faulty or not fit for the purpose, that does not affect the customer’s right to return them within seven days of receipt, and does not entitle the seller to treat such a reasons to, e.g., insist to repair or replace them under any other terms and conditions.

If goods are returned as faulty and the customer states that the return is for refund, any authorisation bars the seller from exercising any otherwise exercisable discretion. Any such 'returns policy' of the seller that, e.g., faulty goods or liability (including for injury or damage resulting from faulty goods) will not be accepted (or that will not be accepted unless made, e.g., within fourteen days of purchase), has no validity in law and any, e.g., internet return-forms that do not open may be tantamount to attempt to unlawfully seek to limit liability or the exercise of the consumer's rights -as well as absence of 'good-will' on the part of the seller and in it's own right make the contract void and be 'unfair trading'.

If you are under age, the seller sells you totally at his own risk, because no contract entered into with a party who is under age is binding, and you may not be held to any terms and conditions in case of any dissatisfaction.

2. If you have paid money for goods to be despatched at the seller's convenience but have not received the goods within thirty days (unless made-to-measure goods or plants or you have agreed to wait longer -when a despatch date must be quoted) you are entitled to a refund -the medium that advertised it must find out if the advertiser has folded and try to get it for you if you claim with full details in reasonable time (normally within two months of ordering from a magazine or three months of the date of a newspaper advertisement -also your credit-card company may help if you paid by credit-card).

Trading Standards, Office of Fair Trading may be complained to -they do not disclose your identity without your consent. If on evidence they have a good reason to prosecute the seller, upon conviction you may claim compensation -including for unnecessarily caused expenses, e.g., postage, travel, correspondence, telephone calls. (But a word of caution: they rarely prosecute at the absence of many complaints or the seller’s not agreeing to amend its trading practices –and (while on the face of it perhaps similar to a police officer’s ignoring a burglary on that ground) not only if a complaint is frivolous but also if it is considered vexatious may they not prosecute.) Your money claim must still be in the County Court or the Small Claims Court.

Suing Consumer protection laws allow arbitration; you may also sue via the internet in the small claims court. If you are suing in the County Court a company you may do so at one local to you, but if suing one or more persons trading as a business it may have to be where it is located. In court protocol you need only send one Letter Before Court to the seller, and you must spell the seller’s name correctly -if a company is limited by guarantee its details are available from the Companies House –including the names of its company secretary and director/s with their direct contact addresses.

Unsolicited Goods in the case of, you do not need do anything -normally the goods become yours if you hear no more for six months or if you inform the seller but they are not collected within a month.

Do keep the receipts for monies paid and any documents.

(Sanctions against traders are not necessarily of lasting effect in the general spirit of lawful distance trading practices: e.g., the Aria Technology Limited was found in 2000 [ICSTIS report no. 81] by omission considered unintentional to have mislead the consumers, and in 2005 [Nominet DRS 02364: Atek –v- Aria] by commission intentionally to have done so. Should you wish legally justifiably in the public interest to alert fellow consumers, there are also consumer comments or consumer complaints sites on the internet where you may lawfully do so.)

(Laws change –always ascertain current law.)

The author has a website at: http://www.geocities.com/eoa_uk