Tuesday, February 22, 2011

"Bringing the inner workings of Washington, D.C. to the national business community"

Sharon Barner has moved from her Deputy Director position at the USPTO back to Foley & Lardner.

Of her tenure at the USPTO (2009 to 2011), the Bradenton Herald notes:

During her tenure at the USPTO, Barner drove the creation of the “2010-2015 USPTO Strategic Plan,” which is designed to strengthen the capacity of the USPTO, shorten the time it takes to grant a patent, improve quality and, for the first time, includes development of a National Intellectual Property Strategy. While Deputy Under Secretary, she led 15 foreign missions, including trips to Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and Russia, to meet with representatives of government, academia and industry in order to raise awareness of the importance of intellectual property and the positive impact it has on a nation’s economic, social and cultural development. She was also integral in the creation of the USPTO’s first regional office, which is located in Detroit.

The article also noted:

“Much of Sharon’s work at the USPTO was focused on bringing the inner workings of Washington, D.C. to the national business community,” said Mark L. Prager, managing partner of Foley’s Chicago office. “She brings a unique business perspective to the IP policy discussion which will be a great asset to our clients.”

IPBiz had reported in October 2009:

Sharon R. Barner, who was head of IP at Foley & Lardner (and based in Chicago), has been named Deputy Director of the US patent office.

Coincidentally, it was Barner who announced the move of the previous USPTO director (Jon Dudas) to Foley & Lardner in Washington. Barner: “Jon brings a unique mix of talent and experience leveraging both his distinguished tenure within the federal government and his experience as a litigator established prior to his government service."


See
Sharon Barner of Foley named Deputy Director of USPTO


See also a Bloomberg story which includes the text:

He [Harold C. Wegner of Foley & Lardner] said Professor Arti K. Rai of Duke University's law school, and Stanford University's Professor Mark Lemley were both involved in the Obama campaign.

Lemley is also of counsel to San Francisco's Keker & Van Nest, a litigation boutique with expertise in IP and criminal defense law.

Rai is best known for her research on IP issues relating to drug development and other bioscience areas.

Wegner also suggested James Pooley would play a role. Poole is a partner at San Francisco's Morrison & Foerster and the former president of the American Intellectual Property Law Association, a bar group for IP lawyers.

Sharon K. Barner, a Chicago-based Foley IP litigation partner, has also worked with the Obama team. She presently heads the firm's IP department.

The present under secretary of commerce for intellectual property and patent office director is Jon W. Dudas, a Bush- administration political appointee. Dudas served as counsel to the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property before he took the job with the patent office.

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