Today I spent my day, in the morning at least, stalking people. Well, that sounds a lot worse than it actually was. Essentially, when a client/inventor of a design wants to get a patent for their design, they must sign all of the proper documents. However, sometimes the people themselves do not file/sign the documents for a variety of reasons; forgetting about it, ignored it, moved companies on bad terms, or even died. The latter is quite rare I am told. Anyways, after searching for around 3 hours to find 15 different people I managed to find 14 of them, something the paralegals at the firm were not able to do for quite some time J. The last of the 15 I could not find because he had essentially fallen off of the face of the earth. There was no record of him whatsoever. For lunch there was a food truck outside of the office and we all took great advantage of it. After lunch I sat with Ms. Emily Ashley and she walked me through an IDS, an “Information Disclosure Statement”. Essentially what it’s a massive bibliography, but slightly more extreme. By the end of the day I made my way around the office to say my goodbyes. It was sad, but also I could not have been more pleased with the experience. The firm was extraordinarily helpful with not only furthering my interest in IP law, but also helping me learn more about what it means to have a job in the real world.
